


Eden

by superna_tau_ral91



Category: B.A.P, EXO (Band), SHINee
Genre: Action/Adventure, Bromance, Crack, F/F, Gen, M/M, Multi, Sky Pirates, Suspense, WE'RE GOING ON A QUEST!, there are so many pairings coming up later on but not important as these guys up there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-14 07:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11202852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superna_tau_ral91/pseuds/superna_tau_ral91
Summary: Joonmyeon and Yifan, co-captains of Angel and Dawn, are sky pirates of the New World. With their crew, they go on series of adventures of searching for their pendants before they find themselves deep into a chase for their lives. A chase that involves a new Eden, their Tree of Life, and a Time Machine and its portals.





	1. Legend

**Author's Note:**

> It is inspired from one of my classic favorite SHINee fics, Stranded, years back written by a wonderful friend of mine in another platform, and then I came across [these](http://adamasto.tumblr.com/post/47379765902/pirates-from-exo-planet-exo-m-exo-k) [fanarts](http://adamasto.tumblr.com/post/47379765902/pirates-from-exo-planet-exo-m-exo-k) by Adamasto. I loved the concepts of the Old/New Worlds and sky pirates, so I decided to do something about it. :)
> 
> I had written this up years back, and I thought it would be nice if it can be brought in here too.

_ “Born to the twelve, the elements yield their power to mankind.  Such power does not restrict to earth, water, air, and fire.  All things natural and supernatural, they heed to the call of man.   _

_ When the twelve are gathered under an eclipse of a burning star, so begins the elements’ call for the masters.  Where they are hidden, they must be solved.   _

_ The heart of the elemental powers lies within the eternal offspring relative of a burning star.   _

_ Lives may be sacrificed but will never be lost,  Time may be overturned but will never be destroyed, and Blood may be spilt but will never be gone.  When the twelve men and twelve pendants join together, a new world shall open up.” _


	2. Warning

A young male captain takes a step closer to the starboard of his ship, feeling the breeze around him. The clouds are passing by gently, as the ship sails on through the puffy, moist masses, the ground and the sea thousands of feet below.

Adjusting the collar of his red, large jacket, Suho is left with his black shirt and grey pants, his sheathed dagger wrapped around his right thigh. He closes his eyes at the sensation and lets out a sigh of contentment. Angel has served him and his group well in times of refuge and retreat, of encounters and battles. Her metal skin bears minor scrapes and healed wounds, as Kris, Kai, and a small crew have patched her up in one of the New World ports down below the sky.

Suho can feel his pendant pulsating energy on his chest. The pendant is shaped in a similar manner to a teardrop, but there are complex, intricate lines within. He has recently acquired it from an adventure in the Temple of the Water, located in one of the deep underwater sinkholes of the New World. He will never forget that near-death experience under the sea that occurred four days ago.

_To bring and sustain life, whether a day or more,_

_To destroy and wash away, a watery erosion…_

Luhan, a pilot of Angel and a telekinetic thanks to his own pendant, had gone with Suho down below, both of them capable swimmers, having been raised near the sea. When Suho succeeded in getting his pendant from the main shrine and placed it around his neck, the temple started to collapse, for it was being drained of its power the moment the pendant is lifted from its altar. Luhan had managed to get Suho out of the temple before water flooded through the cracks and the temple was left in ruins. With Suho struggling to hold his breath as he latched himself onto his friend, Luhan quickly swam his way to the surface, but was not able to reach it together with the captain in time.

Suho lost consciousness as his grip on Luhan weakened, and his body started slowly sinking into the blue darkness. The telepath panicked and tried to reach for him, but his chest was burning for air and he could only frantically swim up to the surface. He mustered up the last of his energy to slap the surface of the water in frustration, panting heavily. In an instant, he felt guilty of his actions, and exhausted from his frantic escape. When the crew saw that Suho was not with Luhan, some of them became hysterical and distressed. Very few remained calm. Meanwhile, on Angel, a tall co-captain with a scowling face, Kris, barked at a few men who were on Dawn, Angel’s smaller wooden ship, to go rescue their telekinetic friend. Two men, Xiumin and Kai, hurriedly rowed their way to Luhan, and pulled a weakening Luhan over to safety.

“The captain…” Luhan coughed. “I’ve…got to get…the captain!” Luhan panted. “He’s drowning!!”

Meanwhile deep below, it almost cost Suho’s life had it not been for his pendant around his neck bursting with energy, detecting that its owner was on the brink of death. It reached out to any sea mammals out there in the deep sea, and luckily, two dolphins nearby heard its signal. With a net that they found somewhere in the ocean, they caught him and took him up to the surface.

Aboard Dawn, the crew freaked out even more when they saw Suho motionless in the net as he was being dragged slowly by the two dolphins. Luhan, still recovering as he panted for air, linked his mind with his pendant to communicate with the animals to bring Suho over to Dawn, and thanking them when they had done so. The fair-skinned captain was able to recover quickly due to the pendant worn around his neck, in which it healed him by draining out the water in his lungs and absorbing it into itself. There was a loud gasp of breath from Suho as the captain opened his eyes and coughed from the sudden intake of air. Luhan cried in relief at the sight of his fellow captain, hugging the bewildered Suho, and there was not a dry eye among the crew at their blessed reunion with the captain.

_…Water is the source of life, an elemental core,_

_Worthy are you to the pendant of the oceans._

But the sight of the sea down below is enough to give Suho goose bumps.

Clearing his mind of the memory, Suho relishes in the fact that he and Angel are back once again in the sky, as they sail through the clouds, the vast sea below covered from Suho’s sight.

_Inhale…Exhale…_

Suho can feel his blood running; he can sense the amount of moisture in the air and in the clouds. He recalls in his mind the very first incantation among the many that he had researched for weeks with using the pendant, as he had attempted to practice for the past two days.

“ _Vitaquæ_ , I call upo-“

“Captain, it looks like we have a visitor coming at starboard, three o’ clock!” a tenor-voiced male announces near Suho’s left as he peers through his small telescope. Suho sighs at the interruption.  _Perhaps this isn’t the right time to practice. There’s always something going on when I am about to practice, every single time._

“And it looks like they’re ready to fire!!” Opening his eyes in an instant, Suho bristles at the warning as he keeps a look out for the visitor. Taking Baekhyun’s telescope with permission, he peers through it when he spots the nearing intruder. He chuckles, letting his body relax. He recognizes the familiar mahogany ship, with its wooden boards battered along the sides.

“Baekhyun, that’s our ally, Lucifer. And raise up the flag, no wonder they thought we must’ve been enemies.”

“Ah, yes, capt’n,” the first mate replied.

“Let’s welcome them aboard, shall we? Gather up the crew if you will, Baekhyun. And have Luhan take over the helm, I will need your assistance soon.”

“Aye aye, Captain Suho!”

“Aye aye? Who says that nowadays?” A familiar, low voice comes up behind Suho, as the captain gives a start at the sudden noise. Last time he checked before Baekhyun interrupted his practice, only the first mate was near him. Luhan was at the wheel, and Kris was up in the crow’s nest. He turns around and looks up, grinning at his boatswain and co-captain, who is wearing a black shirt with folded arm sleeves and a wine-colored vest. The first few top buttons of his shirt were undone, allowing an exposure of his prominent collarbones and the silver pendant that resembled a dragon spanning her wings.

“Hello, Yifan,” Suho greets the tall man, calling him by his personal name. The man prefers to be called Kris, but he makes Suho the only exception, because the shorter male is not only his co-captain, but also the captain of the Angel. Though Kris himself is the boatswain of Angel, he is also the captain of Dawn, and is in charge of at least half of Angel’s crew. “You really have taken a liking to your ability, you know that?”

“Psh, Joonmyeon. I’m pretty sure almost anyone out there would want to have the ability to fly. To go to places, you know?” Suho chuckles as he nods. “Anyway, what’s all the fuss about?”

“Oh, Baekhyun thought we had an enemy, but it’s just our friends on the Lucifer. You remember Jinki and Jonghyun? Well there’s also Kibum, Minho and Taemin?”

“Jonghyun…the one with the angel wings?” Kris looks a bit perplexed.

“Mhm,” Suho nods as he glances to the winged pendant on Kris’ chest before he looks back up. “That’s him.”

“Ahh,” Kris drawls as he looks up to the masts, needing no further explanation. “That’s what the flag is for, then.”

Suho nods, as he tilts his tricorn upward. “We better get ready to welcome them aboard. Come with me first and we’ll come back to here. I’d like you help me with something…”

Kris raises an eyebrow at the request, making a suggestive look, a little joke shared between the two. Suho chuckles softly and walks around him, one of his hands gently gripping on Kris’ forearm before it drags down to leave a lingering touch on Kris’ hand. Kris is quick to hold onto it, and follows Suho to the captain’s cabin, when Luhan passes them by with an excited yell.

“The Lucifer is approaching starboard! You want me to steer the ship and meet up with them or what?”

Suho shakes his head, his eyes disappearing behind his eyelids as he smiles. “I thought Baekhyun has already told you but we’re just raising up our flag and letting Lucifer come to us. Just keep her steady.”

“Will do, Captain Suho!” Luhan accidentally lowers his gaze to where Suho and Kris are holding hands. He raises a hand to point at it. “Err… wha-“

“Luhan…I told you, you should just call me Joonmyeon…” Suho snaps Luhan out of his focus, a smile on his face, as he tugs Kris closer to him. “I’d rather you call me that name; Suho makes me feel like I’m older than you. We best get a move on, shall we?”

Luhan’s gaze flickers between the two captains. “A-aye. I’ll uh…go…to the helm.”

Suho and Kris share a secret glance before the captain leads the way to their cabin. 

**\- - - -**

Meanwhile on the Lucifer, Onew and Jonghyun are on deck, their concerned gazes on Angel. Minho is steering the ship, with Key and Taemin next to him, the two of them reading the youngest male’s book. They are afraid for their fellow friends, because rumors have it that there are monstrous pirates hunting them down for the legendary elemental pendants.

“Come on, Kibum, why can’t we just disguise ourselves and assist them? I can probably find a spell or something that will enable us to hide everything about ourselves under our enemies’ eyes.” Taemin closes his book that was resting in his arms. He was reading on the general information about the enemies, Blue Sun and Red Moon, an evil alliance searching for Angel and her crew.

“The hunters made it clear that they have made every detailed observation down to the twitch of our hands, to the subconscious habits, everything. Their use of technology is far more advanced for my knowledge, and I don’t even recognize half of what they own,” Key explains sadly. “And so, even if we try to help our friends in our disguises, I am positively sure that they will be able to detect any tiniest slip of ourselves and automatically know who is who…They mass-scanned that place, don’t forget.” Key was referring to the bar, where the five of them had been hanging out on their downtime.

\- - -

_…A couple of days ago…_

At the bar where the Lucifer crew were dining, a group of men entered without a warning, one of them firing a blank shot in the air, and threatened to bomb the building, causing almost everyone to drop to their knees with their hands up, covering their heads. Onew and his crew however resisted and stood up to the invaders.

The invaders were dressed in sleek uniforms, much different from the usual sky pirate attire. Some of them wore watches that projected data and pictures, and some of them wore shades, which were highly unusual for sky pirates to wear.

Only one person had his gun out, and it was far more slender and of an eccentric design than a regular gun. Around all of the members’ waists were belts that held different pocket-sized objects, and Key was slightly curious to know what these do.

Key’s question was answered when one of the members grabbed at one of his blocks and quickly threw it to the ground.

Almost everyone screamed in panic and recoiled in horror, thinking that the guy was seriously going to destroy the building, when the block suddenly rebounded and it  _changed form,_  into a form of a mini-ray gun.

“What…the…hell?” Key muttered.

The thrower caught it in a timely manner and twirled it with his fingers.

“Strangers, weapons are not allowed in this bar. On what grounds are you intending to destroy it and everyone in here? This place shows no allegiance to one group of pirates… It is a neutral place, after all.” Onew inquired coolly. “And…most importantly, who are you?”

Amidst the group with different hair colors, a tall man with purple hair had an incredibly intimidating face, his eyes sneering, and he walked up to Onew.

“My name is Bang Yongguk, and I am the leader of The Red Moon, captain of One-Shot.” The leader bowed his head briefly, still glaring at Onew.

Taemin let out a small gasp at the mention of The Red Moon, having read about the band of pirates. Minho and Key tensed up at the name. However, Jonghyun was confused, though still alarmed at the whole situation.

There are hushed whisperings and nervous tittering in the bar at the mention of the name. The man called Yongguk ignored the noises. “We are searching for the legendary twelve elemental pendants, said to be able to control the twelve elemental natures.” He took out a piece of paper that showed all twelve pendants in an intricately designed hexagonal layout.

Onew does not show it, but the others cannot help it with their eyes widening too quickly at the recognition of the familiar hexagonal symbol.

Taemin stiffens.  _Crap, Jongin’s in that crew…_

“Now,” Yongguk looked around at the bar, “legend has it that with these twelve pendants, they can show the way to a New World, a much newer World than our current one, a world that is beyond our dreams!”

The leader looked around with a menacing stare. “We. Want. The.  _Pendants_ _!_ ” He roared out the last word, causing almost everyone to jump. Onew was watching him with furrowed eyebrows and an angry expression on his face.

“And it is not just my group. You see, we are part of a planetary alliance, Novae, hunting for the pendants. We, that is to say, the Blue Sun and Red Moon, found out that there is a certain group of twelve people that already has been searching for them as well, and that they have already claimed a third of them. We wish not only to capture these legendary pendants, we wish to make these pirates our slaves,  _all twelve members in total_.”

The captain of Lucifer felt his face go slack, appalled at the intensity of the man’s desire in the last sentence. Meanwhile, Jonghyun’s, Key’s, and Taemin’s eyes widened at the last sentence, as they looked to each other in fear.

But little did they know that a certain member was looking in their direction…

If Onew had any reaction of surprise or shock, he did not show it; rather, his eyes squinted as to observe the invaders extra carefully.

“…And why did you come here? What does this place have to offer with the group you’re looking for?”

“We want to know who they are…and where they are. We came here because, according to our sources, this is the place they frequent a lot, and I am sure some of you…” — Yongguk looks around — “…may be acquainted with them, whether close or not.”

Jonghyun gulped.

“As you say that this place is neutral ground, if you do not wish to help us, we will respect that decision; but know this: if I were you, I would rather tell us the truth than deny anything related to the group. You see here,” — Yongguk beckons one member to come forth, and it is the one who had a mini-ray gun — “Youngjae here can study all of your behaviors with this special tool he has. It doesn’t physically hurt anyone, at least…not on the outside.” Yongguk chuckles. “Call it, a lying detector scan. The shot he just fired, it is already working its magic. Scanning the whole area without all of you knowing it. If you help, we will leave you alone. If you don’t help, we will suspect you and into our ship you’ll go. Jongup and Daehyun will make sure of that.”

Taemin’s grip became tighter and Minho winced a bit from the pain, shaking their hands slightly to remind his younger companion about the situation. Looking at his companion, Taemin looked apologetic when he loosened his grip. Meanwhile, Jonghyun and Key glanced at each other as they moved closer to each other, and the latter slowly pulled Taemin closer, who in turn pulled Minho into the group. Onew, though a few steps in front of them, still had not showed any reaction to the surprising news.

“And that’s not all; you see, we come from a very highly advanced community that when we came here to this port, we were surprised how far behind your weapons and technology are compared to us. If any of you provide assistance to our target, we will cut you off in an insta-“

The male called Youngjae leaned to Yongguk and whispered in his ear. When he was done, a gleeful expression washed over Yongguk’s face as he looked in the Lucifer crew’s direction before looking directly at Lucifer's captain.

“Well, well, well…”

The Lucifer crew could not help but let their expressions of utter shock wash over their faces. Unbeknownst to them, a bartender is watching them whilst retrieving his ray gun from underneath a countertop.

“Looks like we’ve came to the right place at the right ti-.”

_Hold onto your angel, Onew_. The bartender’s voice echoed in Onew’s head, catching the captain of Lucifer off guard.

A gunshot fired in the building, and what happened within one second was too quick for anyone to notice. As the bright light began to flood the room immediately after the gunshot, In the time that it took for Yongguk, his group, and almost everyone in the bar to recoil, Onew stepped back a few steps, his hand already outstretched for Jonghyun to hold onto, and the captain is about to shout at his crew to run when the Lucifer crew found themselves sinking rapidly before they found themselves aboard their ship.

“Oh sh-“

The last words they heard from Yongguk while they were falling through were “GET THEM!!”

With the voice ringing in their ears, the group looked at each other with hints of relief and worry on their faces. Taemin looked physically exhausted, as he almost collapsed against Minho, his face pale and his nose bleeding.

“Taemin!” Jonghyun screamed at the youngest member with panic, running to him, but the other three knew better.

“That was a dangerous move you pulled back there… taking all five of us at the same time…” Onew said as he shook his head, “however, I’m grateful for your smart thinking and quick rescue, Taeminnie… But now we’ve got them on our tails… And for how long until they find us, or worse, find our friends?”

“Please…let’s just go now...and tell them right away!” Taemin was breathing hard and struggling not to lose focus, blinking away the blurring vision and wiping away the smears of blood from his nose. Minho and Jonghyun were hoisting him, in order to prevent the youngest from falling over. Jonghyun was watching him closely to make sure he was not going to faint, having taken out a handkerchief for Taemin to use, in which the latter accepted wordlessly.

Onew looked at Key and Minho, and he could see the fire slowly burning in their eyes as they look back at him, the fire of determination to help their friends. In this cat-mouse game, the Lucifer crew is the second mouse to lure the cat away.

“Erm… Guys, can someone fill me in on this Red Sun and Blue Moon?”

\- - -

_…Present time…_

“There has to be a way…” Taemin says desperately, his eyes focused on Angel ahead. “I don’t want to think about my best friend being enslaved...or worse. It’s bad enough that the last time we saw each other face-to-face, it didn’t end well…”

Key looks at his younger companion with sympathy. “The only way to take them on is ambush…but we alone can’t take them out. We’ll need assistance, not from the crew of Angel, but from our own friends.

“We’ll need Mystery and the others.”

Eyes slowly filling with hope, Taemin turns to Key and there is a small smile on his face. Key smiles.

“Come on, let’s go give our friends a scare with those cannons.” Key chuckles mischievously as he firmly slaps Taemin on the back and makes a run to the gun deck below. Taemin laughs and follows him, but not before he  _oh-so-casually_  let one of his hands drag gently across Minho’s back.

Minho smiles to himself as he steers Lucifer towards Angel, reveling in the tingly sensation left on his back.

Down ahead of him, at the bow, Jonghyun and Onew are leaning over the rails, standing side by side. Minho is not blind to see that their pinky fingers are intertwined, if the fact that their hands appear to be glued together on one side didn’t give itself away.

The first mate looks up to see Angel hoisting a flag of her own high above her masts.


	3. The Confessions of a Captain and his Boatswain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Few glimpses of their past, and shared confessions.

The moment Suho and Kris walk into their huge shared cabin, Suho tugs Kris away from the door and locks it, his back facing the taller male.

Kris raises an eyebrow. “Joonmyeon…” He says warily. “What is it that you ne…” His speech falters into silence as he watches an unmoving Suho, and he starts to feel a little freaked out. “Hey…what’s going on in that mind of yours?”

Suho does not respond immediately, his head bowed and resting against the cool metal doorframe.

“Joo-?”

“I heard you…” Suho says quickly, not moving from his spot. “Just…give me a moment…”

“Joonmyeon,” there is a wary tone in Kris’ voice as the tall male steps closer, a hand reaching out towards Suho’s left shoulder. “What’s wrong? Is it something I can help you w—”

“Ihavetotellyousomething…”

The boatswain stares at his captain’s back, unable to catch the words that flowed right out so quickly. His hand had stopped mid-air.

“…Sorry?”

Suho lets out a small sigh before turning around, lifting his eyes to meet with Kris’.

Tears had fallen from the fair-skinned captain’s eyes.

Eyes widening at the sight, Kris almost panics, because it was not too long ago that Suho was looking cheerful and even before that, Suho had not shown any signs of depression or anything remotely solemn.

_Other than being so diligent on getting his elemental summon right…_ Kris thinks to himself. Sure, he knew that Suho was the pirate captain, that he himself is the “sub-captain” or “co-captain” (or whatever it is that Suho wants to address him), and that Suho has an image to uphold around his crew, but it doesn’t prevent Suho from exposing his inner self to the one person he trusts with his life, his everything.

“I…have to tell you something” – Suho’s voice interrupts Kris’ thoughts, and Kris sees the same teary eyes — “about what happened down there…when I…“ Suho breaks off the eye contact, his voice faltering as he gets a little choked up with emotion.

Kris immediately walks over to Suho, wrapping his arms around the smaller body frame. He suspects that when his friend was at the brink of death, Suho might have encountered some people from the past that he had not seen in a long time. That was usually how the saying goes for those at their deathbeds.

“I saw my parents…”

Kris feels a pang of sympathy upon hearing those words, and he holds Suho closer when small hands are grabbing at his clothed back and the captain’s shoulders are shaking.

~~~

_Captain Suho, blessed with the spirit of adventure, had lost his parents at an early age in a plague. Being the lone survivor, he was rescued by a neighbor who had tended to his parents in their last moments. With her husband gone, as she laid with him minutes from dying, the mother requested the young man to give her five-year-old son and a letter she left on the nightstand to her brother, who lives three hours’ journey from their home. She couldn’t let her son see them dying. Joonmyeon was sleeping in the young man’s arms when he retrieved the kid, and the softly weeping mother was able to kiss her son one last time._

_With Joonmyeon’s clothes and memoirs of Joonmyeon’s parents in a suitcase, the young man got into his anti-gravity vehicle and drove off from the home with tears in his eyes. As he was leaving the area, he could see people walking around like zombies, looking ever so gaunt and hopeless; he could also see dead people on the streets. Shaking off the images in his head, he focused on getting to the destination. He drove for three hours without rest, glancing at the sleeping Joonmyeon now and then. Miraculously, the toddler was not disturbed in his sleep._

_When they finally arrived at the destination, the driver was relieved to see that the lights were still on, for the sun had set not too long ago. He gathered Joonmyeon in one arm and the other things with his other arm, and went up to the front door to knock. When the door opened, he was surprised to come face-to-face with one of the few well-respected sky captains of the nation. The young man had heard stories about him but never saw him in person, and he was a bit star-struck._

_“Can I help you, young lad?”_

_“U-uh…” the male stuttered, forgetting for a moment why he was there. “I’m Joonmyeon’s neighbor…erm…your sister…she requested that I bring Joonmyeon to you.” As the memory from earlier sinks in, he feels the sadness crawl up inside of him. “There…was a plague…and…she gave me her last request.”_

_The sky captain stared at him, shock written across his face. He glanced down at his nephew and had realized just how long it had been since he had seen his sister and her family. “She…died?” He asked softly as he took Joonmyeon gently into his arms, watching him with sadness in his eyes._

_The young man nodded as he placed the luggage closer to the captain. “Her husband died first earlier tonight…she followed not too long before I left. She told me to give this to you, too.” He took out a letter that was inside his jacket, and delivered it to the older male. “Enclosed is a letter to you but also a letter to Joonmyeon as well…something she said he’ll need to know when he gets older.”_

_The uncle gave a great sigh as he took the letter. “Th-thank you…for all this…f-for coming all the way to fulfill my…my sister’s request…” The captain blinked a little too quickly, and the young man could see the eyes getting watery. “She was so young… and you’re too young to be left alone…” He brushed a finger against the side of his nephew’s sleeping face._

_The young man watched the two in silence, before the uncle spoke up._

_“Hey kid, what’s your name?”_

_“Henry…”_

_The uncle nodded. “You got a family?”_

_“Yes, sir. Not too far from here, actually. My hometown’s right in the middle between Joonmyeon’s home and here, though it is closer to the sea. We own a store actually, for the ship parts. There’s a port nearby that you can dock your ship,” the young man said with a small smile. “With your reputation, we could give you dis-…” He stopped himself upon realizing that he was babbling at an inappropriate time. “My apologies, sir…” Warmth was spreading across his cheeks._

_The captain chuckled softly. “Ah, you are quite kind, young man. Worry not about the discounts, I can manage paying in full. I’ll be sure to stop by your family’s shop when I can. But in the meantime, won’t you come in? It’s been a long drive for you, I believe.”_

_“No, thank you sir, with all due respect. I want to check back with Joonmyeon’s parents and see what must be done. I’m immune, so I have nothing to worry about. And I want to see my family tonight. This…whole…trip…” he motioned aimlessly with his hands, “made me want to see them tonight… That plague… I don’t know why Joonmyeon survived, maybe he is immune too...but I couldn’t let him live there…”_

_The captain had no words, seeing the honesty in the young man’s eyes and hearing the sincerity in his voice. It moved him, witnessing someone unselfish to do something for his neighbors, the captain’s younger sister and husband._

_“Thank you once again for what you’ve done…for taking care of my sister and her husband until their deaths, and for bringing my nephew at this time…”_

_“I’m just glad that Joonmyeon is not left alone…” Henry said with a small smile, before he turned and left._

_When the uncle saw the car pull out and drive off, he looked down at his nephew and gave a sigh._

_“Poor kid, your mommy and daddy are gone…”_

_The toddler made a fussing sound, and the uncle rocked him gently before the kid quieted down._

_“You’ve got a skin like your mommy, like an angel. I should give you a nickname… Since I’m your uncle and all,” he muttered to himself, contemplating before an idea came to him._

_“Suho.”_

~~~

The tall boatswain nuzzles his nose in Suho’s hair in consolation.

“I saw my parents, Y-…Yifan…” Suho says shakily. “And I swear, I… I was so _close_ to j-joining them…” Hands are clutching even more tight around Kris’ body. Tears are falling, and Kris knows because a small area of his shirtfront is slowly becoming wet.

“I a-almost…l-left you…” the captain’s sobs are taking over and Kris can only offer hushes and hugs. “I-I…I almost left _all_ of you and _my ship_ …to join my parents… I missed them for so long…that I wasn’t thinking. I was so selfish, Yifan…”

“Hey, Myeonnie, it’s okay…” Kris tries to comfort him, petting his hair and planting a kiss on Suho’s temple. “It’s okay… You had your reasons, and I wouldn’t blame you…”

“But they _told_ me I couldn’t go with them yet…and I _wanted_ … I wanted to _go_ with them…” Joonmyeon weeps. “They told me that there’s someone waiting for me…and Yifan, I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to leave you…”

Caught a little off-guard at the comment, Kris brushes it off and plants another kiss on Suho’s forehead. “Joonmyeon…it’s okay…”

_Did he know about my love for him?_

For many years, Kris has hidden his love for his friend, and buried it within his protective nature. The first meeting, Kris had no way to explain it but he was taken with the boy. The fair skin, the small frame, the shy appearance, and those eyes, those light hazel eyes of Suho. The current Suho did not suspect a thing, his childhood memories buried deep in the back of his mind.

“No…it’s not okay, Yifan,” Suho manages to control his emotions. “There’s something I ne…I need to say to you, and it’s why we’re in here.”

Suho pulls away from the embrace, shyly looking up at his tall friend. For a moment, their eyes connect before the captain breaks it off and looks down to where Kris’ pendant is resting against Kris’ skin. Kris watches him with silent anticipation, waiting for something to spill from those pink lips.

“What is it, Myeonnie?”

Suho blushes, as the nickname registers in his ears. “I…” His voice gets choked up no longer from emotions, but also from nerves, and he swallows it down before clearing his throat again.

“I…” Suho is trying to find the words to begin, his mouth working in different shapes. “…Do you remember when you kissed me on the cheek, when we were kids?”

Kris blinks. _He remembers that?_

~~~

_The first time Suho and his uncle visited, Suho was in his uncle’s arms, shy and small, and the captain was surprised at how calm Joonmyeon’s been acting in public._

Usually, kids would be rowdy at this age, whether shy or not… _The uncle thought to himself._

_Upon entering the store, he saw Henry first before the other recognized him, greeting him warmly. Henry then introduced the sky captain and Joonmyeon to his family, retelling the story of how they met._

_Meanwhile, in the middle of Henry’s story, a young boy at the age of seven, with unruly, jet black hair and tanned skin, was curious to see who was with the sky captain, just who was that little boy looking so fair-skinned in his arms. He moved from his father’s side towards the sky captain._

_“Who’s that?”_

_The captain looked down at the boy, before he knelt and showed him. Six-year-old Suho clung to his uncle, shyly looking at the other kid._

_“This here is my nephew, Joonmyeon, or you can call him Suho.”_

_“Oh…” The kid said, “I like Joonmyeon better…” His eyes scrutinized Suho’s appearance before they lit up in happiness. “Hi Joonmyeon, my name’s Kris, but you can call me Yifan!” The kid took ahold of Joonmyeon’s hand and shook it gently, despite the sounds of his family’s protests. “Let’s be friends forever and ever!”_

_“Honey, Yifan, you just met Joonmyeon…”_

_After a few seconds had passed with Suho and Kris shaking hands, Joonmyeon removed his hold on his uncle and joined Yifan standing on the floor, much to the family and his uncle’s surprise._

_“…Okay.”_

_“…Well, how about that for the first meeting…” the uncle remarked with a barking laugh._

_Unfortunately for Kris, Suho forgot about the meeting and returned to his shy nature. Few months passed after their first meeting, and Suho and his uncle visited Kris’ family’s shop almost every week. In the first few weeks, Kris made the initiative to make friends with Suho, who would shy away at every opportunity and clung to his uncle, despite his uncle’s reassurance about Kris and their first meeting. With each attempt failed, Kris frowned and did nothing further to push Suho into being friends; he could only watch him with a pout._

_At one point, Kris had enough._

_“Myeonnie…”_

_The never-heard-before nickname gave Suho a tingly sensation down his spine. His parents, his uncle, Henry and the family had always called him “Joonmyeon”, “Joonie” or “Suho”, but never “Myeonnie”._

_So when Kris called Suho “Myeonnie” the second time, the younger boy blushed at how he actually liked the sound of his nickname._

_“I like you a lot, and I want to be friends with you. Why can’t we be friends, Myeonnie?”_

_Suho glanced at Kris, giving no answer._

_“You haven’t said a word to me since our first meeting, which was ages ago… I wanna play with you, but you won’t let me because you keep on being shy around me…”_

_Suho blushed even harder, looking down to the ground, shrugging his shoulders._

_Out of the blue, Kris pecked Suho on the cheek. Suho’s eyes widened and he scrambled away from Kris._

_“Yifan! Why did you do that??”_

_“There, you’re talking. See, you even knew my name.”_

~~~

“Yes.”

“…Do you remember how I was so shy and all before that?” There is a gentle tug on his pendant, and Kris continues to study Suho’s adorably blushing face.

“…Yes,” Kris drawls out the word, smiling a little at the memories.

“…Th-…There’s…a reason…why…I couldn’t talk to you…”

“Uh-huh?” Kris moves one hand to cup Suho’s chin and graze his thumb against Suho’s jawline.

Suho becomes aware of the situation he is in, and he brings his eyes up to the boatswain.

“Yifan…?” He removes one of his hands that had been on Yifan’s back, and gently grips one of Kris’ forearms.

“Do you remember that riddle for my pendant?” Kris inquires boldly.

Caught off-guard by the question, Suho blinks, trying to remember the riddle before he gets it.

_“Like dragons and birds, to spread wings, take flight… Mankind desires this deed the most…”_

Kris nods. _“To establish a vow of your bond with your life… Whisper to me your call of the host.”_

Suho furrows his eyebrows. “The host…of the bond?“ His eyes widen when he figures it out. “You mean…?”

Kris nods the second time with a smile. “You’re my life, Joonmyeon.” He rubs his thumb on Suho’s jawline again. “I’ve loved you for a long time…since we were kids.”

“But the prophecy…”

“That just happened. We were meant to be, somehow. Even your parents…they must have known, watching down on us. I’m pretty sure my family did, too…”

“A-and…are you…okay with us?” Suho asks tentatively.

Kris thinks he’s imagining it but when it sinks in that Suho had asked such a question, he made a face before he swoops to attack his friend’s lips. Suho makes a small noise before Kris pulls back, intense eyes looking down at widened eyes. “Is this enough to prove my answer?”

“Y-Yifan…” Suho looks down at Yifan’s lips and unconsciously licks his lips. There is a tingly sensation down his spine when he realizes that his lips have been taken by a certain handsome, godly flying man.

“AHOYYY YOU SKY LUBBERRRSS!!”

The sudden shout startles both Kris and Suho, as they jump back, away from each other.

“We have visitors in two minutes!!” Baekhyun’s voice rings throughout the ship. “Prepare to make yourselves decent when you get to the deck! Jongin, that means you, especially. I know you’re in the kitchen with Kyungsoo, doing something we don’t even want to know~”

A noise of cackling follows suit as Suho hangs his head in secondhand embarrassment. Kris is speechless at the blatant remark.

“Jongdae, you better not be taking too long in the bathroom! You too, Zitao! Remember, this is only a welcoming, not a beauty pageant!”

“Why…did I even…make him my first mate?” Bumping his head gently against Kris’ shoulder, Suho tries to keep his tone as anguished as he could, but he fails. He ends up chuckling as he shakes his head, amused. Kris gazes down at him with a smirk.

“Well, at least he’s talkative…and he’s got some sass. No one else except Jongdae can compete with him on the sass. Baekhyun’s an excellent mate for making announcements, though; you gotta hand it to him.”

“OHHH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN! WHERE ART THOU, OH CAPTAIN??”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The crew actually believes there is no romance between the two of them, until Luhan saw the gesture in the previous chapter. But Luhan dares not to spread word against the captain, because he respects him very much.


	4. A Reunion of Sorts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's a reunion... Just not what some are expecting.

A wide, metallic plank shoots out from the side of Angel, and it grips onto Lucifer’s wooden side railing. Onew takes the lead with Jonghyun to cross the bridge, followed by the trio of Key, Minho and Taemin.

Suho, Kris, Xiumin, and Luhan are standing on the other side of the bridge, awaiting the Lucifer crew to board onto their ship. They had known Onew much longer than the rest of Angel’s crew, given that the captain of Lucifer had visited their port a few times before the Great Divide, before Suho had founded the Angel crew. They had met Minho later on, after the Great Divide, when the New World was in its early age. As for Key, Taemin, and Jonghyun, the four Angel crewmembers have only heard about them in the letters that both captains had exchanged from time to time. And so the four men greet the Lucifer crew with warm smiles.

“Ahh, Joonmyeon! It’s been a while…” Onew hails warmly as he makes his way towards the younger captains. “You too, Kris!” They shake hands before Suho find himself in the elder captain’s hug. When they pull away, the captain of Lucifer then greets Xiumin and Luhan in the same warm manner before he takes a look around Angel.

“Wow, would you look at her… How long has it been since I last saw the four of you? Seems like ages ago,” Onew shoots a playful wink and smile to the men. Suho chuckles at the choice of words.

“Too long.”

Suho shoots an amused look at his mates because they all had replied simultaneously before looking back at the older captain.

“How have you been, Jinki? And what brings you here?”

“Hold on, not answering you yet,” Onew lightheartedly replies back as he holds up an index finger, stepping back to allow his crew to greet the four men of Angel.

“Minho!” Luhan exclaims happily. “It’s been a while!”

Chuckling, Minho nods and shakes hands with him, before doing the same to the other three. They then take turns welcoming the other four members of the Lucifer.

“And you must be Taemin! I’ve heard so much about you in the letters…” Suho says warmly.

Taemin nods, smiling, as he stows the monocle in the pocket of his vest. “Indeed, it is a pleasure to meet you, Captain Suho. I’ve heard a lot about you from Jin-…” The words come to a halt as there is an indescribable look painted on his face.

Some of the members share looks of confusion before they follow Taemin’s line of sight, turning around to see what made the young man stop.

“Hello, Jongin…” Taemin’s voice cannot hide the sadness.

Suho, Luhan, Xiumin and Kris cannot hide their astonishment at the situation, as to how Taemin knew their shipwright, because they have no recollection of their shipmate mentioning Taemin at all. It is the crew of Angel’s first meeting with people other than Jinki and Minho as well.

The said male, having emerged from below deck, stops on the very last step of the staircase, with another young man trailing behind him, hand in hand. He is dressed with a green hooded cape (his hood down), a grey sleeveless shirt that depicts a skull with crossbones, and black jeans with a pouch dangling from his side.

Kai, or rather Jongin by personal name, is glaring heatedly at Taemin, the look of anger etched heavily on his face.

“Jongin??” Suho asks indignantly, thrown off guard by the name. “H…What is this, how do you two know each other? Wait, did you know about this, Jinki?” He sees that the whole crew of Lucifer is not surprised as the Angel’s four members are.

“I did, the whole crew did. It’s part of the reason why we are here. A few years ago, Taemin happened to come across one of our old letters in my cabin, and it was then he caught his friend’s name and alias. He reacted strongly to that, that we all wanted to know why. He…had explained to us his history with Kai, or Jongin for that matter. We’re sorry to have kept this from you guys.” Onew scratches his nose, looking guilty.

“Yeah, Jongin and I…go way back. I made Jinki not to tell you, as it is personal to me,” Taemin says sadly as he watches Kai. “He and I used to be close friends for three years…until I joined the Lucifer. He still looks the same, and I’m not that surprised. I know I haven’t looked any different… And I doubt he’s going to forgive me anytime soon after what happened that day…”

“What do you mean?” Suho asks.

“Well, I didn’t tell him that I was going to join the Lucifer. We had a fight that day; it was almost six months after my parents died. He wanted me to move on, but I refused and sought for ways to bring my parents back. I sought for information and knowledge, such as to bring my parents back or identify what the disease was that ravaged them to their deaths. That night after our fight, Fate approached me as she had done three times for the previous three months, and made me an offer for my soul. That night, I accepted it, and next thing I knew, I was aboard Lucifer. I didn’t have any time to say goodbye to Jongin, and sometimes I regret that.”

Suho hums in acknowledgment. He steals a glance to Angel’s shipwright.

Behind Kai, the other man is wearing a sky blue, long-sleeved shirt with beige pants, and a red bandanna tied around his head. D.O notices the tension and how almost everyone on board is watching the scene ever so attentively.

“J-Jongin… come on, let it go…” D.O soothes the man as he squeezes Kai’s hand gently, his thumb rubbing reassuringly across the back of Kai’s hand. “It’s in the pa-”

“ _I don’t care_ ,” Kai hisses softly as he turns his head slightly to D.O’s direction, his eyes never leaving Taemin. “Thinking he can just come here out of the blue and make everything alright, especially with that absurd _magic book_ of his. I _waited_ for him, and he never showed…” He scoffs. “Some friend he is…”

Suho notices how dark the shipwright’s scowl is, and he wonders why. He is unable to catch what Kai was muttering to D.O; neither do Kris, Luhan and Xiumin. He notes D.O attempting to soothe Kai, his wide eyes glancing around nervously.

“Jongin…” Taemin says softly as he starts to walk toward Kai. “I’m rea-“

“Shut it,” Kai growls vehemently, causing Taemin to freeze in his tracks. “Save your apologies, Taemin. We were done. I was done with you a long time ago. A _long_ time ago, you got that?”

“I didn’t mea-“

“What? You didn’t mean to _what_?” Kai bursts out angrily, startling D.O to the point where the older man takes a step away while still holding hands with him. “You didn’t mean to yell at me back then, for trying to help you and being there for you? Back when you lost _your parents_? You didn’t mean to _disappear_ and not leave a note saying you had joined the Lucifer, the _pitiful-as-fuck_ crew of wandering, _doomed_ souls?”

There are little noises of gasps, as some look a little scandalized at Kai’s choice of words. D.O’s eyes widen and he whispers harshly, “ _Jongin! What’s wrong with you?_ ”

Kai pays no heed to his companion, still glaring at Taemin, who looks speechless and guilty.

“I had felt so sorry for you, because you had lost your parents and you were so miserable. You were so obsessive on finding ways to save your parents when there was _nothing that could be done_. I had grieved with you and checked on you to make sure you were still with us. And you know what you did? You lashed out at me! Me, Taemin, me who was only trying to help! And you yelled at me for failing you? As your best friend back then, what had I failed to do?

“I felt so sorry for us when we had that argument, I really did… I came back the next day to our place, hoping I’d see you there and we could forgive each other. And you know what happened? I… I w- _waited_ …” His voice starts to quiver with emotion, before Kai takes a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment before he opens them. “I waited almost the whole day before I went to your house. And when I got to your house, no one was there. Not a single soul.”

“You don’t _understand_ …how I felt that day when you disappeared, without a trace, without a note, without _anything_. I waited for _days_ , no more like _months_ , Taemin,” Kai growls. “Once or twice, I thought you had committed suicide. I thought you had _died_ and you couldn’t take it anymore.” Kai’s eyes are becoming watery at this point. “I didn’t want to think about that. I sought for you everywhere, and no one knew where or who you were…even the ones _we_ knew…” Kai shakes his head with a look of disbelief. “I was the only one who still held onto you, or at least, a memory of you…

“It was like you never _existed_ …in our town.” Tears are falling from Kai’s eyes. “Just like that, our friendship was over. I didn’t become a dancer like I promised you I would. Instead, I continued with my shipbuilding skills, because it seemed to me a more practical occupation than dancing.”

Taemin watches him with remorse. The others are sharing looks of sympathy, unable to do anything to console the two men.

At this point, the remaining crew of the Angel is grouped up behind Kai, waiting on the steps as they listen to his speech, not daring to utter a word nor make a sound. It is the first time for both crews, especially Angel’s, to witness Kai reacting with such intensity.

“Jongin…I kno-“

“No you don’t. You don’t _know_ how I felt… being the only one who remembered you…and waiting for you for so many years, Taemin…” Kai shakes his head firmly. “And that day, when I heard rumors of a ship docking near our hometown, a ship with a crew of misfits and a captain who was doomed to sail for eternity…I heard from the townspeople a description of someone so _similar_ to you…

“ _‘Young, bright man with a thirst for knowledge, a prettily handsome one, and he has a magic book, a book with blank pages that appears written only to his eyes…’_ ” Kai sneers, but the tears in his eyes soften his harsh appearance. “I just had to go back to our place, hoping you still remembered about us, and that tree…” He sniffles.

Taemin bites on his lip, feeling incredibly shameful. He remembers that day when he and the Lucifer crew minus Jonghyun visited his hometown. He had not forgotten about him and the tree where they used to meet; but he was afraid to approach him. Kai never knew that Taemin was already there, just hiding in the shadows.

“And…” Kai chuckles weakly, “and still you never showed, you bastard. Just like last time.” Kai shakes his head as he shrugs. “You never showed…”

“I thought to myself, how ridiculous was I? Holding onto a hope that was already lost? I was your _only_ friend back then. And guess what? You were _mine_ , too, Taemin.” Kai sighs bitterly as he bites on his lower lip. “I had to move on…and it was painful. It took me a long time to get over you …a long time.

“But for you, you clearly moved on right away from the beginning, didn’t you? And I didn’t think it was even painful for you, because _she_ took your soul, didn’t she? No pain there. She took your soul and you didn’t care about me; you just forgot about us, our hometown, and _everything we had_!”

Tears splash to the floor as Kai screams out the last few words at his former friend. Heaving, he angrily wipes the tears off with his arm, still glaring at Taemin.

“Don’t even think that you being here today would make up for everything in the past. That was _years_ ago… _years._ Don’t even think that we can go back to being friends just because you are here, you got that?”

Taemin silently looks back at Kai, blinking slowly to clear up the tears in his eyes. “J-…Jong-“

“D-Don’t call me that,” Kai snaps as he turns away from him, his shuddering breaths apparent from the emotions.

“Jongin, _please_. Listen to me,” Taemin pleads quickly. “Jus-“

“No.”

“But there’s something impor-“

“I don’t care, and I’m not hearing anything from you from now on!” Kai shoots a deathly, teary-eyed look at his former friend.

“…You are _nothing_ …to me, Lee Taemin.”

A look of hurt is smacked on Taemin’s face, and just for a brief moment, Taemin swears he sees a flash of guilt on his former beloved friend’s face before Kai looks away with a gulp, and is about to storm off to the bow, away from the group, when D.O places a grip on Kai’s wrist. Wordlessly, Kai stays rooted to his spot, and there is a silent communication between the two of them.

A hushed silence hangs in the air, as the men look around, a bit awed at Kai’s outburst and yet, waiting to see who will break the atmosphere. Finally, Minho walks up to Taemin, and places an arm around his shoulders in comfort.

“Uhm…hi, guys.”

A voice speaks up, grabbing everyone’s attention, as a young man has walked up the stairs, but freezes on the spot, noticing the tension in the air. Chanyeol has a dark purple long-sleeved shirt hugging his torso, with a short-sleeved vest and maroon pants. He looks to his right and sees Baekhyun, who flashes him a small grin, looking relieved.

“Hey now, Kai…” Chanyeol walks up to the shipwright, his voice soothing. “Was that some way to welcome the legendary crew of Lucifer, who also happens to be our ally?” He places a hand on Kai’s shoulder, shaking him gently. Kai grunts a little, shrugging off Chanyeol’s hand and moving away for some personal space.

“Oy, get a move on, you softies! We’re supposed to greet them, not put on some kind of chick-flick scene for them!” A whiny voice is heard behind Chanyeol, in the huddled group. “Ow! Baekhyun, what was that for??”

“Well Chen, why were you and everyone else waiting then? Get a move on!”

“Come on, Jongin,” D.O urges Kai soothingly, as he takes his lover by the hand, stepping aside to talk privately. Chanyeol leaves them alone and meets up with Baekhyun, who is heading towards Key. The rest of the group joins Kris, Suho, Xiumin and Luhan as they welcome the captain of the Lucifer and his fallen angel companion. “Surely you didn’t mean what you said, Taemin being nothing to you… He’s your close friend aside from me.

“It’s probably your emotions speaking, as you were overwhelmed at the sight of him…but I’m sure you can find it in yourself to forgive him later, okay? Maybe not anytime soon, but later on...” He lets go of their hands and raises them to wipe off the tears on Kai’s cheeks, before cupping his boyfriend’s neck. Kai looks like a kicked puppy, D.O amusedly thinks to himself.

“While I may not be exactly happy that you…put on a scene in front of our guests, I understand you had to let some things out; it had been too long. But right now, our focus is on why they’re here, and whether it is important or not. Come on, I’d like to meet Minho and Taemin, I _know_ ” —D.O stresses the word upon seeing Kai’s glare— “you don’t want to meet with him, but just come with me, okay?”

The younger of the two seems to be uncomfortable with the idea, but he obliges to go with him anyway.

“Good, shall we move along then?”

As the pair gets closer to the tall couple, D.O feels strangely nervous when he fully acknowledges both of their heights, looking up at them. “H-Hello, I’m D.O, or Kyungsoo…Jongin’s b-”

“Boyfriend,” Kai stresses the word, as he holds D.O’s hand firmly. “Lover.”

D.O blinks at Kai’s actions, but he smiles. “Anyway, it is nice to meet you, Taemin and Minho. Welcome aboard.” He shakes hands with the two tall members. Taemin and D.O share a brief moment of friendly eye contact, before the former looks back to his friend.

As if on cue, Minho speaks up. “Thank you, Kyun-“

“D.O.” Kai interrupts again, earning looks from D.O and Minho, but not meeting with their eyes or Taemin’s. “Don’t call him Kyungsoo. Only I get to call him that.”

The tallest of the four laughs, understanding how Kai feels around D.O. “Okay, thank you, D.O. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” D.O smiles. As Kai keeps his eyes averted to the cloudy horizon, the other three are looking around at each other, feeling an awkward silence looming in.

It dispels the moment Kibum pops up from behind Minho, startling Kai and D.O.

“Hello, you guys, I’m right here, too!”

The man has a feline figure, with eyes that seem to appear also feline-like, and his hands are ringed in almost every finger. He has a red bandana on his head, just like D.O. “Mine’s Key, or Kibum if you like.”

“You’re the chef and blacksmith!” D.O says with admiration. “Mayhap we could share some recipes later on? I’m also the chef of this ship.”

“Is that so? Well, I like this guy already. D.O, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” D.O nods enthusiastically, unaware that Kai is sneaking a glance at him with a small smile. Taemin watches his former friend with a soft gaze.

Meanwhile, Jonghyun spots Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Zitao and Sehun coming towards him. Zitao is wearing his priest robes, magenta under white, his cross necklace hanging around his neck. Sehun has a crown on his head, and a shirt under a vest, both sleeveless. He has two necklaces, a bead one and a plain one with a small pin in a shape of an anchor. Jonghyun greets them warmly, and they reciprocate with handshakes. Not long after, the four of them go over to meet with Minho, and Taemin.

Dressed in simple clothing, with a collarless, long-sleeved shirt, red pants, and a red sash tied around his waist, Xiumin walks toward Onew, Kai, D.O, Kris and Suho, effortlessly joining in the conversation about Angel’s condition.

“How’s she doing? And how come I don’t see your secondary ship, Dawn? You mentioned her in your letters, but I don’t see any secondary ship tugged nearby,” Onew tilts his head with a puzzled look.

“Ah…Dawn’s a secret,” Suho winks. “You’ll find out later if you stick around.”

“Oh, we aim to stick around…” Onew says, half-playful and half-serious.

Suho and Kris are quick to notice the older captain’s tone, sharing a secret look.

“…Jinki, is there something you’re not telling us?”

Captain Onew gives a faint smile, and brings both hands to pat on Kris and Suho’s shoulders. “In a little bit, boys. In a little bit.”

Chen and Lay are the last ones to come out from below, both of them greeting everyone with bright smiles. With his clothes giving off a sense of class, especially with a green vest over his white, long-sleeved dress shirt, as well as fancy slacks, Chen cheerfully greets and introduces himself and Lay to the members of Lucifer. At the same time, Lay, with brown pants, and a maroon shirt whose neckline hangs low enough to reach past his sternum, simply nods to each member of the Lucifer crew.

When everyone gets together and huddle into one big group, jokes are passed around among the Angel crew, except for Suho and Kris, regarding to Baekhyun’s announcement, and the Lucifer crew are left clueless at the scene in front of them. Clearly, Kai’s outburst scene has been forgotten and put aside in their minds.

“Boys, settle down!” Kris barks at the crew. “Let’s hear from Captain Onew on why they have come to visit us…”

Onew takes the moment to clear his throat. “Yes, erm…I must apologize but…” — He sneaks a glance to his own crew, all four of them looking back at him — “I’m…afraid it’s not something pleasant for you all to hear…” He looks at each and every member of the Angel crew, noting the emerging looks of confusion and panic in their faces. Taemin dares to sneak a glance at Kai, and to his surprise, his friend is looking back at him just for a second before Kai breaks the contact.

“Not pleasant how? Like…financial crisis? Homeland crisis?” Chanyeol asks.

“…Is it our hometowns? Our families?” Jongdae inquires.

Onew looks to the two young men, seeing their worried expressions. He wishes he could soften the impact of the reality that he is about to tell, but there’s no way to make it sound less foreboding than it already is.

“…It’s about all of you right now.”

There is a hush of silence, as everyone looks at each other frantically. Suho and Kris share a look of concern.

“W…What do you mean right now? Are we in danger??” Baekhyun shrieks at the end, looking up to the sky. Almost everyone looks up to the sky with clamoring gasps.

“No, no! No, I don’t think so…I mean, I hope not.” Onew sneaks a glance upwards. “Mayhap we should take this downstairs?” He quickly suggests.

“Follow me,” Suho says without missing a beat, hastily walking to the stairs, “We’ll talk in the Cordius. But I should also give you a small tour beforehand, as well.” The Lucifer crew follows the captain of Angel, not knowing where this Cordius is. The Angel crew does not take a step further, unsure of whether to follow or stay. Some look at Kris while the others watch the Lucifer crew’s retreating backs.

“You heard him! This concerns all of us!” Kris barks, making a hand motion to beckon them to follow as he heads in the same direction. “Get a move on, this is an important matter…geez, the lot of you.”


	5. A Tour and A Legend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting down to business.

“Whoa…”

“This is amazing…”

“We have the infirmary right here, and it is the only room you’ll see among the flights of stairs, because otherwise you’ll find our common room and kitchen beyond that small hallway,” Suho notes quickly.

The metallic room with flights of stairs echoes with the thudding of shoes against metal floorings, and hushed whispers and exclamations from the Lucifer crew, as they take in the sights of the interior decorations. However, Jonghyun is holding hands tightly with Jinki as they walk down the stairs, because the angel’s not quite adjusted to heights, especially when he can see that it is a long way down through those perforated metal floors.

“And here we just have our quarters and water closets, nothing special.”

“…You’ve done her up real good, Joonmyeon...Last I recall, these tubes weren’t around… It was just plain metal walls all around. I’m quite impressed,” Onew says, awed as he takes in the details of the metal framing and ornamentation in the ship. “And this ship wasn’t even that tall like before…”

There are mutterings from Key as he takes in the sight of the steel frames twisting and weaving in a sturdy netting layout around him, as well as the way the walls are decorated with slim bronze pipes smoothly forming hexagonal patterns with many continuous lines.

“Yes, this ship wasn’t even this big to begin with; we’ve managed to retain some of the upper half of the original Angel ship, that you and Minho had always seen long ago, while we did a lot of modifications to the lower half. Or rather, we extended the lower half.”

“That must’ve taken years to do so… I’m at loss for words right now, young friend, especially with these bronze pipes.”

“Thank you, Jinki; although, the pipes were not of my own doing but Luhan’s. He had acquired the ability of telekinesis, thanks to his pendant.”

“It’s true then…you guys are supposed to hold ownership of the legendary pendants…” Onew’s eyes follow the patterns as they come to halt where doors are placed, and pick up at the other end of the doorframes.

“Uhm?” Suho stops in his tracks, looking warily at his friend. “I never told you about the pendants…where did you hear about that?”

“We’ll have to talk about it when we get to Cordius, it’s a long story.”

Suho resumes walking. “Oh…alright then. And here is where we’ll take the elevator, some of my men can use the ladders, but the elevator’s big enough to hold twenty-four people at most,” Suho directs as several men of the Angel make their ways to the ladders.

“Twenty-four?!” Key exclaims, eyes bulging. Suho nods, chuckling, “Twenty-four.”

Suho pushes a button that indicates a downward arrow on a panel, and it lights up green. When the doors open, it is nothing short of an ordinary looking elevator, except bigger. However, as both crews get onboard, the Lucifer crew finds that instead of buttons to push to indicate which floors, there is only a panel that a hand can fit in.

Sure enough, the captain of Angel places his hand on the panel and it too lights up green before the doors quickly close. “The elevator’s designed so that this panel here only recognizes one of our twelve men’s hands, and there is usually one way to go from here, which is down to the Cordius.”

The elevator is a smooth ride that does not take too long before the doors open, and the Lucifer crew sees that there is an open floor plan with columns and a small hallway across from them. As they walk out of the elevator, they also see that some of the Angel’s crew is already waiting for them.

The whole group comes to a stop in the hallway, looking at a gigantic wall, and is surrounded by a door on either side.

“Whoa,” is the word that comes out of Key and Jonghyun’s mouths as the Lucifer crew stand together with the Angel crew, looking at a huge design of a hexagon, nine feet tall, with twelve different symbols laid out in a symmetrical manner.

“It’s just like the one on the pamphlet back at the bar…” Jonghyun mutters to Onew. The captain gives a faint nod in reply.

“MAMA,” Suho calls out to the wall.

The Lucifer crew shoots apprehensive looks at Suho.

There is a loud crack from inside the wall that startles the whole Lucifer crew, but leaves the Angel crew unfazed and some giggling at their reactions. The hexagon then splits up into six small triangles and pulls away, exposing the center. The center reveals to have some form of device protruding out of the wall, scanning the air between its two prongs, and a panel on the wall that requires a certain form of hands to fit into the mold.

Suho then brings his hands to scanning device, does three gestures of his hands before they join together at the thumbs to fit exactly the design on the panel, and he pushes the panel into the wall.

There is a rumbling noise as the wall splits halfway in the middle and opens to reveal a humongous room of computers and highly advanced machines of technology, such as a large table that has some form of holographic readings of some topography, a holographic globe rising above the table, and three large-sized screens. Behind the screens, there is a huge glass column that seems to encase a gigantic rock, about twelve feet in diameter, suspended with thick cables. There is an electric-silver flame that encompasses the rock, pulsing at a steady beat.

“Welcome to the Cordius,” Suho murmurs as he steps aside to let the Lucifer crew enter. “The heart of Angel.”

“Holy,” Key curses as he steps into the room. “Holy mother of all things pure and sweet… You guys built this room?!”

“Not all of us,” Suho smiles. “T’was I, Luhan, Xiumin, Kai, Chen, and Chanyeol. Chen and I planned out the Cordius; the others transformed it into reality. Please make yourself comfortable.”

There are low whistles of admiration from the Lucifer crew as the others and Angel’s crew follow Key inside, with Suho and Kris being the last to enter. The wall closes up behind Suho and everyone is gathered around the huge table.

“This is…astounding…the fact that this room is by far the biggest I’ve seen in this ship,” — “It _is_ the biggest room in our ship,” Chanyeol points out to Key, “takes up two floors’ height, thanks to _that_ ,” he indicates the flaming rock — “Oh, is it? Wow… How is Angel still able to fly with this kind of space inside her? And with Dawn, too…?”

“The answer lies up there,” Suho indicates the glowing rock. “You guys are looking at the heart of Angel, Aithyr; her infinite power lies within the heart to keep Angel afloat and running.”

“Geez, this is one hell of a beautiful ship…”

“Thank you,” Suho smiles. Key nods wordlessly, acknowledging the captain’s words.

“How did you guys come across tha-“

“Key, questions will have to wait, please. It’s important they need to know, because of _time_ ,” Onew coolly chides his shipmate.

“Ah, sorry, captain,” Key brings a hand to his mouth, feeling ashamed of his insatiable curiosity, “Go right ahead.”

“So…what’s this unpleasant news that we should know about, Jinki?” Suho says warily.

Silence falls in the large room as the captain of the Lucifer looks around, thinking of how to start off the news. The whole Angel crew appears to be getting a little fidgety. Kai is even staring at Taemin’s back.

The captain tries to form words with his mouth before they come tumbling out. “…How much do you know of the Novae Alliance?” He asks Suho.

The captain of Angel gives a bewildered look, before he glances at the other members, his questioning gaze upon them. None of the members knows what Captain Onew was talking about, from their shrugs and shaking of heads. The Lucifer crew looks a little grim at Suho’s reaction.

“…Are…we supposed to be a part of that alliance?”

Onew stares at his younger friend in shock, ignoring Key’s “oh stars, that’s not good” remark, and gives a solemn headshake. “Just be thankful you’re not…I’m not in it either. Novae Alliance is our enemy…or rather, yours.”

A cold sensation trickles down Suho’s back as the captain cannot help but let a shudder. “My…enemy?” He feels an arm around his shoulders, knowing fully well that it belongs to Kris, due to the large hand upon his left shoulder.

“Novae Alliance composes of two guilds, Blue Sun and Red Moon. Red Moon is a guild of male-only subgroups of pirates, and Blue Sun, female-only. One of their missions is to hunt you down and enslave you, because they have heard about the legend of the twelve pendants becoming true, and how these pendants will open a portal to another New World.

“The Novae Alliance is a deadly enemy, Joonmyeon; they’ve exterminated peoples and razed lands. We have had a misfortune to run into one of Red Moon’s groups a few weeks ago as a warning, at a pub that you and your crew frequent, but we got away with luck and Taemin’s help.”

The crew of Angel is stricken with terror on their paling faces, panic filling up inside of almost every single member, except for Suho, Kris, Xiumin and Zitao.

“But to e-…enslave us…?” Chen asks, his voice quivering with fright. “Wh-why would they want to enslave us?”

“For the pendants…” Onew reiterates. “They want to use the pendants and create a new utopian world, leaving this world in its destruction and chaos…”

“How did they even get ahold of the legend of the pendants? We thought this was personal!” Luhan looks indignant. The rest of the crew nods in agreement.

“…It was one of the prophecies told from the north,” Taemin says softly. “It was also one of those that got changed into a New World’s bedtime stories for children.”

“Excuse me, what? _Bedtime stories_?! Are we _that_ mysterious?” Chen laughs haughtily.

“Pretty much. It's one of the famous ones heard around the New World.”

That shuts Chen up.

“Well, what can you tell us about the pendants?” Onew brings his attention back to his fellow captain. “In the letters that we have exchanged in the past, you have never mentioned anything to me about these pendants. When we saw the pamphlet back at the bar, and noticed how the symbol outside the entrance wall is strikingly similar… I just couldn’t believe how true the legend was.”

“What does the prophecy sound like?” Suho asks.

“It’s something about the tree of life prophecy.” Taemin reaches out his book, flipping through the pages. He is oblivious to the affronted looks of the Angel’s crew. “Aha, here w-“

“Excuse me, did you say ‘tree of life’?” Chen looks miffed. He storms over to Taemin to read the pages. “What is this nonsense about the ‘tree of life’?” His eyes suddenly bulge as he reads the page containing the prophecy. “This is completely nonsense! That’s nothing like what we’ve heard of!”

“Chen, just let Taemin read it out for us.” The two crews gather around Taemin to hear what he has to say.

Taemin effortlessly recites the prophecy. _“When the skies and the grounds were one, the legends through their twelve forces, nurtur-“_

“Skies and grounds being one, my ass,” Chen mutters loud enough so that everyone hears him. “That wasn’t how our prophecy started…” Some of the Angel crewmembers nod in agreement.

“Chen, be quiet!” Kris orders. “Go on, Taemin.”

_“…nurtured the tree of life. An eye of red force created the evil which coveted the heart of tree of life, and the heart slowly grew dry…”_

“What the…I don’t even want to know the rest of the stupid so-called prophecy…” Chen grumbles softly, enough that Lay, Zitao, and Baekhyun nearby can hear him.

Meanwhile, Suho tilts his head at the line and glances at the silver glowing ‘heart’ behind the glass wall.

_“To tend and embrace the heart of tree of life, the legends hereby divide the tree in half and hide each side. Hence, time is over-turned and space turns askew. The twelve forces divide into two and create two suns that look alike into two worlds that seem alike.”_

“Did you hear that? _Two!_ ”

“Shut up, Chen.” Kris sighs heavily.

“I mean, is that even possible? What th-”

“I SAID, BE QUIET, CHEN!” Kris roars. “I SWEAR TO MAMA, YOU’RE CRUISING FOR A BRUISING.”

“But doesn’t this whole thing seem so prepo-“

 _“Are you going to finish that sentence?”_ Kris snarls.

“Why, are you going to spank me?” Chen turns around halfway, clearly taunting the captain.

“Chen…please, just let us hear him out.” For the first time since the meeting of the crew, Suho actually looks serious, despite having an arm around Kris’ lower back, obviously restraining him from attacking their navigator.

Chen shudders under his captain’s gaze, and he has the dignity to look ashamed of his actions. He then falls silent as he returns his gaze to Taemin. He shakes his head in disbelief. “It just doesn’t sound right to me at all…”

Taemin continues on, unfazed. _“To safeguard the elemental forces, the twelve enchants their pendants to contain their powers, and hides them away in the corners of the worlds they have created. The legends travel apart, giving up their identities to join with humankind, hoping that, one day, their descendants will join together under the eclipse of a burning sun. The legends shall now see the same sky but shall stand on different grounds, shall stand on the same ground but shall see different skies.”_

“What the st- _mmph_!” Everyone looks to see Chen silenced by Baekhyun and Lay, their hands on his mouth. Chen shoots a glare between his holders.

_“The day the grounds be kept a single file before one sky in two worlds that seem alike, the legends will greet each other. Only then will their pendants seek for their masters. The day the red force is purified, the twelve forces will reunite into one perfect root; a new world shall open up.”_

There is a moment of silence as most of the Angel crew is contemplating on what they had heard, and some of them are muttering comparisons between the original prophecy and the supposed legend.

“OW! CHEN!” Baekhyun shouts. Everyone looks to see him shaking his hand. “Why did you bite me??”

“I need to _breathe_ , geez.” Baekhyun smacked his bitten hand all up on Chen’s face. “Get away from me!” Chen says, swatting off Baekhyun’s hand.

“I’ve got to admit, that is a bit too dramatic of a legend,” Xiumin says softly. Chen scoffs. “A bit? Hardly a bit; it was way too dramatic, Xiumin.”

“Except for most lines… some were actually something similar,” Zitao mutters.

“Yeah, but still. Eighty percent of that was all bull; twenty was all truth. Red force, my ass.”

“There’s Red Moon…?” Jonghyun points out.

That makes Chen even more riled up. “It’s still ridiculous!!”

Taemin frowns at the situation, and even the rest of the Lucifer crew is confused at how wrong they were about the prophecy.

“Everyone says that’s how it went…for a long time…” Taemin says dejectedly.

“Yeah, well we’re not everyone, are we?” Kai interjects, earning a glance from Taemin. He scoffs and looks away, shaking his head and chuckling scornfully.

“Middle screen, activate prophecy of the twelve.” Chen implores, flourishing his hand hurriedly.

There is a humming sound before the middle screen lights up, with texts of ancient writings. Everyone looks to the screen, the Lucifer crew drawn to the digital technology.

“Activate voiceover.”

Upon Chen’s command, a female voice resounds in the room, startling the Lucifer crew almost immediately.

_“Born to the twelve, the elements yield their power to mankind. Such power does not restrict to earth, water, air and fire. All things natural and supernatural, they heed to the call of man._

_“When the twelve are gathered under the total eclipse of a burning star, and the planets are aligned, so begins the elements’ call for the masters. Where they are hidden, they must be solved._

_“The heart of the elemental powers lies within the eternal offspring relative of a burning star._

_“Lives may be sacrificed but will never be lost, Time may be overturned but will never be destroyed, and Blood may be spilt but will never be gone. When the twelve men and twelve pendants join together, a new world shall open up.”_

“Now, _that_ is our prophecy,” Chen breathes with relief. “That is what we know by heart after all these years.”

“…An eclipse of a burning star…” Taemin mumbles. “Burning star? Isn’t that the sun?”

“Congratulations,” Chen says sarcastically. “You get a coo-“

“That’s exactly what it is, Taemin,” Suho nods with a sweet smile, as he almost struggles to restrain Kris, because anyone can see that the tall boatswain is itching to storm over to the navigator and berate him.

“But the last time there was a total solar eclipse…and such alignment of the planets…” Taemin is calculating in his mind before he wears an expression of shock on his face.

“…was before the Great Divide.”

“Yep, bingo,” Luhan says.

“But that second to last line…I don’t get it. _‘Lives may be sacrificed but will never be lost, Time may be overturned but will never be destroyed, and Blood may be spilt but will never be gone.’_ How is that even possible?”

Jonghyun gasps. “…You’re all immortal.”

Suho shakes his head. “Not really, I suppose you could call us that…but technically, we’ve stopped aging. In reality, we’re still aging.”

“What do you mean?” Key says, confused.

“…Well…it’s half-curse, half-blessing that we are like this. You see, when the total eclipse happened, we were placed in some sort of coma — at least, our physical forms were. In our ethereal state, time passed incredibly slowly for us, but it passed quickly for the physical world. So I guess, right then and there, we stopped aging at a normal rate.

“When the Great Divide happened, our physical bodies still remained intact and miraculously hadn’t decayed, but we couldn’t return to them. No matter how many years had passed, our bodies would never expire or anything of the sort, they just stay the same. Meanwhile, everything and everyone around us was getting older and dying. After the Great Divide, we woke up in our bodies sixteen hundred years later.”

“Sixteen hundred years?!” The crew of Lucifer, except for the captain and Minho, was shocked at the amount of time.

“But Jinki’s two-thousand, one-hundred, and twenty-four years old…” Key says with a furrow of his brow before he looks warily at Joonmyeon. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-one, twenty-one.”

“Ah, I see… Right, you just mentioned that the pendant will come to you when you turn twenty-one…” Key blinks in confusion as a thought runs across his mind. “But why didn’t you get it when you were two-thousand, twenty-one?” — “twenty-twenty-one,” Jonghyun offhandedly notes, causing Kibum to look daggers at him before the man continues — “Or stars, when you woke up from that sixteen-hundred year-long coma, there were what,” he counts the fingers in his one hand, “five chances when you were twenty-one… Why two-thousand, one-hundred, twenty-one and not any of those previous years?”

“Twenty-one, twenty-one,” Jonghyun speaks up, earning a bitch-face from the man. “Same difference, _god_ , would you be quiet?” Key snaps at his shipmate, before he looks at Joonmyeon warily, ignoring Jonghyun’s off-sided comment about “long and confusing”.

“…Funny, we thought about that the first time when Minseok turned twenty-one a hundred years after we woke up from the coma, and nothing happened. Nor the century after that, and the several more centuries after that until he turned twenty-one, twenty-one.”

“That means…all of you…are at least twenty-one hundred years old?” Taemin says, realization dawning upon him. He gazes towards his friend, Kai, who briefly held contact before averting his eyes.

When he hears everyone nodding and he sees Kai shuffling nonchalantly, he directs his comment to him.

“And you…you are much older than me…Jongin.” Kai freezes at the mention of his name before he looks up at Taemin.

“Surprise, you figured it out,” Kai shrugs. “What, were you expecting a celebration? Did you think I was going to come over to you and hug it out?”

Taemin furrows his brow, frowning at Kai’s attitude.

“No…it’s just…no wonder I thought something was off about you back then… I didn’t even think so much on it, but I just had a feeling that when you were living in that house alone…with no parents…”

“Yeah, are you now calling me a freak?”

“Hey, hey, calm down, Kai,” Kris warns as everyone picks up the nasty tone in the shipwright’s voice. “Calm down… no one’s calling anyone a freak here, they just want to know about us, okay? Because this sort of thing, we have not told others about.”

“And what about you, Captain Jinki and Minho? You look like this is nothing to you…” Key voices out.

“Well…” Jinki shares a look with Minho, “we kind of already knew…”

Minho nods in agreement. “Remember the letters you guys read?” He directs the questions to Taemin, Key and Jonghyun, who nodded in response. “Before those letters started, Captain Jinki and I had met Xiumin, Luhan, Kris and Suho when I was new to the Lucifer. I was surprised to find out how the four of you came to this world, and was even more speechless at how old the four of you really were. It never pegged me that you guys would have that many years in your life, but then again, Jinki’s a good example.”

“Yes, quite right you are, Minho,” Jinki smiles as he looks at his crewmembers and the look of confusion on their faces. “In fact, I have met these four before the Great Divide.”

“ _What?_ ” Some of the Angel crewmembers and the three Lucifer crewmembers express their shock.

“Joonmyeon, you never told us that you guys went way back…and we were there with you before the Great Divide!” The said captain smiles at Chen’s comment. “Actually this was before the four of us met all of you. Jinki had met with us on several occasions.

“And after the Great Divide, after we woke up from our coma, we split up to search for our hometowns. It was then that we met up with Jinki at our port with Minho tagging along and a few other former crewmembers.”

“But you should’ve told us that you guys knew each other. Why all the secrecy?”

“You never asked, Chen; we didn’t feel it was necessary to say until someone asks.”

“And besides, the last time we saw each other was when Captain Jinki and Minho had gotten back from losing a crewmember after one of their dangerous expeditions.” Suho explains.

“The one where you guys went to Eyndrom’da…” Luhan reminds them.

“…Oh yeah, _that_ was a lovely expedition…” Onew shares a look with Minho. “Was it that long ago? Guy was afraid of heights and we lost him when we crossed that one ravine that had only three ropes as a bridge.” Minho nods, reminiscing.

Suho gives a faint nod in acknowledgment. “Our meetings became rare whenever we both go out to explore new lands. We just decided to keep in touch with letters… Leave them at a post office in our sky port, go out, and then when we can return to our port, we would check and see if there had been any reply from Captain Jinki. It takes years to hear from someone, you know…and it had been hundreds of years since.”


	6. The Legend and Origins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is heavy stuff of information. I'm hoping to have some sort of visual aids ready within the next few weeks.

“Okay…so now that we’ve got the ages figured out…what about the pendants? And what does Aithyr have to do with the prophecy?” Key inquires. “You never wrote anything about this in the letters, and we’re finding out so many things about you guys right now… How the hell did Novae Alliance know so much about your pendants before we did? And wait, how is it that you guys were able to just stop aging?”

“Whoa, don’t get your panties in a twist,” Luhan says, who would have sounded indignant if it wasn’t for his weak chuckle. “One at a time, Key…”

 _“The heart of the elemental powers lies within the eternal offspring relative of a burning star…”_ Taemin mutters to himself, staring at the giant, silver flaming metal rock behind the glass wall. “Aithyr is a meteorite, isn’t it?”

“In a basic sense, yes; it’s more of an everlasting burning meteorite.”

“Everlasting? The flame doesn’t burn out?”

“Nope, it never has. We found it at the crater of Mont Sol, a dormant volcano in the Old World.”

Key whistles low. “And who’s your goddess that protects you? Or god?”

Zitao looks a little disdainfully at Key. “We don’t have a deity to protect us, if that’s what you mean… We have a divine superior being, whom we call Mama.”

“The same name you called out earlier?” Onew questions Suho, in which he gets a nod in response. “Okay…who is this Mama? She’s…the mother of…?”

“Not exactly; she is the royal divine queen of the universe.”

Silence befalls the room.

“Of the…of the universe, you say?” Key sounds flabbergasted.

“Mhm,” Zitao says calmly, with assertion.

“And who’s her husband, the king?”

“None, she alone rules the universe herself.”

Now the whole Lucifer crew looks astonished, but not long before Minho speaks up. “…And she can hear your prayers from way out there?”

“…Not exactly prayers? I mean… there’re not really any routines or rituals done to communicate with her. We just…call her for her aid when we need to, or talk to her for answers.

“Well, this is the first time I’m hearing something like this,” Key mutters. “A royal divine being, watching over the universe? We have a goddess who watches out for us; and she never intervenes unless it is for a good reason, which almost never happens.” He chuckles.

“So now, since you all have this ‘superior divine queen’”— Key does the air quotes with his hands —“surely you guys should have some kind of deity associated with this ship? Our allies, they have their deities… Shock with Coincidence, ours with Fate, New ABO with Truth…”

“…Uhm…” Suho looks around, not knowing how to respond to that. “We…uh…”

“…Are you serious? It’s just Mama?” Key gives a look of disbelief.

“Well no not…exactly…” Suho hesitates. “We actually have minor deities, though they’re pretty ancient…”

A moment of silence befalls the room for the umpteenth time.

_“…what?”_

“Annnd we’re digging more deeper to this legend about the twelve of you…gee whiz,” Key mutters. “This is kinda a lot to take in, you guys. But let’s just keep going at it. What is it about these minor ancient deities that isn’t really considered for this ship?”

“The deities…they’re more like protectors of the chosen ones with the corresponding pendants. These pendants, they each have a name, but the locations where they are hidden, often has a temple, shrine, or monument dedicated to the deity.”

“So the names given by Mama herself, are the names of the ancient deities?”

“No, the names are of the pendants themselves, the power is from the deities. When we summon our powers, we call the names of the pendants to awaken the powers within.”

“The deities not only protect the locations where these pendants are held, they protect us too. They had created riddles for anyone to solve, in order to gain access to the pendants. That’s what the prophecy meant by _‘Where they are hidden, they must be solved.’_ Riddles are one of the highest protections that the deities can offer to the pendants, because they usually require deep logic and sometimes…sacrifice.”

“Sacrifices, including lives?” Minho asks.

“We don’t know… We may live to be only twenty-two years old for eternity, and we aren’t exactly immortal; we are prone to death…and pain. I almost drowned under the sea not too long ago after discovering the pendant in an underwater temple, and I thought that was the end of it. But somehow, I don’t know if it was the deity or the pendant that rescued me and willed me to live. Giving ourselves to the pendants and deities, we earn protection from them.” “These pendants…as well as the other eight of them, were devised by Mama long before the Great Divide happened. She gave them names, and scattered them across the Old World.”

“And the names of the pendants…? What are they?” Taemin studies Kris and Suho’s pendants resting on their chests.

“And don’t mention the deities’ names, please, for our sakes. Just the names of the pendants would suffice,” Key interrupts.

“Vitaquæ, Water of Life.”

“Draconi, Dragon.”

“Ge’Qan’Dong, Telekinesis.”

“Qanik, Frost.”

“These are indeed ancient languages…languages of the Old World.” Taemin marvels. Suho nods. “Anyway, when the solar eclipse happened, Mama came to us in our ethereal forms. She didn’t expect to find out just before the solar eclipse that the gods of this world were planning to break up the Old World due to the magic overdose on the lands. And so, still in our ethereal forms, we were told that Time has decided to pass on much slowly for us than it would in the physical world. We had witnessed the transition of the Old World to the New World, the breaking up and the creation.

“That delayed our search for the pendants, or rather, the calls’ of the pendants to us. When the lands broke up, it messed with the connection between the pendants and us, the supposed masters. The four pendants we’ve found, each of them had been displaced from where they had originally been in the Old World.”

“I’m sorry… Displaced?” Jonghyun asks.

“Remember Velspar, Jonghyun?” Onew reminds him. Jonghyun remembers with an ‘oh!’, nodding with understanding.

“Hang on,” Jonghyun starts, “Jinki, you met them before the Great Divide, and all of you, you had your hometowns… When the prophecy said _‘When the twelve are gathered under a total eclipse of a burning star’_ , how did you all come together in the first place?”

The crew of Angel share looks, hesitant on how to narrate the story.

“Well…” Xiumin starts, as he makes his way to the screens. “Let us show you.” He stops before the middle screen and says, “Activate Old World map. Homeland: Ghondwan.”

The middle screen turns on and a map of Ghondwan is shown, with its coastlines and geographic features, and its neighboring lands. A giant crater is placed to the northwest of the land, in the middle of the desert.

“Whoa…this is the Old World?” Jonghyun breathes, awed at what he sees.

“This was where most of us came from…before you came along, Jonghyun,” Onew watches his lover with sadness in his voice. “I had not realized just how long it had been… You can see Velspar here,” — he points to the area on the map on Ghondwan that has the familiar woodsy environment and the Velsparian Temple — “and the temple… My stars, I’ve forgotten how close we were to the bay before the Great Divide…”

Suho nods. “We came from a city south of Velspar, called Jondr.”

“Sehun and I came from Gyndr,” Kai voices out.

“…Gyndr?” Taemin breathes. “But…that’s where I was from…”

Kai gives Taemin a pointed look. “You came from the New Gyndr. We came from the Old Gyndr.”

“We came from Zang’ria,” Zitao quickly intervenes, as he indicates himself, Chen and Lay, “which is to the north of Velspar.”

“Zang’ria? Isn’t that where the m-“

“The monks, priests, shamans, and almost every religious figures reside? Yes,” Zitao nods. “And Zang’ria is not just a religious center of Ghondwan, it is also the center of intellectually advanced civilizations. Faith and science work separately but they coexist together by putting aside our differences.”

“And we just hail from a small seaport town called Ghondwanjementum,” Baekhyun says almost half-heartedly.

The crew of Lucifer looks at Baekhyun as if he said something atrocious.

“…Say what now?” Key shoots a look on apprehension. “Gonna-yummy-thumb?”

“Ghond-wan-je-men-tum,” D.O and Chanyeol echo.

Onew and Jonghyun stare hard at the three of them as Taemin and Minho try to repeat what they had just heard. Some members of the Angel crew are giggling.

“It literally means, ‘the mouth of Ghondwan.’” Baekhyun chuckles as he rolls his eyes. “Lame, I know…”

“Uh…wow. Such a long name for a small town…” Onew looks back at the map to study it further. “All of these locations seem pretty far from each other… Did you all gather at one point or you accumulated as you travelled across Ghondwan?”

“Don’t be silly, Jinki. We met in one place, Jondr. Our…parents had something to do with the prophecy, actually…”

Only Onew, Kris, Luhan and Xiumin are able to catch the sadness in the younger captain’s voice. The rest are oblivious to it.

“How so?”

Suho sighs. “For many generations, our parents and ancestors have been a part of this cult that keep watch for the solar eclipses. Our bloodlines trace back to the time when the prophecy was born. My ancestors discovered an ancient cave in that area,” he points to the meteor crater on the map, “and there were drawings on the walls. Activate right screen, photographs from Ancient Ghondwan Cave.”

As Suho commands the screen, the center screen zooms into the northwestern area before an inset appears on the screen and moves over to the right screen, dispersing into many images of the cave’s interior.

What appears on the right screen makes the whole crew of the Lucifer gasp.

“That’s where we got the inspiration of our wall designs from.”

Patterns of hexagons, big and small, are spread about on the earthen walls. The twelve symbols lined up in continuous rows on the top and bottom edges. One wall has a female hooded figure suspended in midair with the sun and moon on either side of her.

“That’s Mama?” Jonghyun points to the screen, looking at Suho. The young captain nods.

“Okay, but how did you come together anyway?” Key mutters. “Did your parents just said, ‘My child, the time has come for you to be on your merry way and meet our friends’ children, for your purpose is to gather under a solar eclipse before you can become masters of the elements’ and b-“ He is silenced by Minho and Taemin’s glares. “Right then…”

“Our parents gave us letters…or at least,” D.O spares a glance to Suho and Zitao, “we were given letters written from our parents, a couple months before that last solar eclipse prior to the Great Divide.

“The letters told us about the prophecy and that we were to meet people in Jondr. There, the eight of us met Xiumin, Luhan, Kris, and Suho. We all didn’t know everyone; I mean, at least the small groups we came in didn’t know the other groups. Captain Kris here had us all convene in his family’s house.

“Few weeks later, the solar eclipse happened, and when we had gathered at the cave under the eclipse, Mama came to us. She told us that we were destined to find the twelve pendants but we were not of age yet. You see, Xiumin, Luhan and Kris were only sixteen at the time, and Mama told us that the pendants will reveal to us when we reach the number reversed in all of us.”

“Twenty-one…because it’s twelve in reverse,” Taemin breathes in realization.

D.O nods. “She then asked us for our blood vow, in exchange for longevity, so I guess, in a sense, immortality.”

“But weren’t you guys in ethereal form though?” Key interrupts. “Souls don’t have blood…”

“Our ethereal forms came after the blood vow. At first, we were hesitant with the decision because who wants to live forever stuck at an age? When we gave her our blood vow, we did not feel any different from before the solar eclipse, but we knew something changed within us.

“Mama had whispered to us the names of the pendants that we were chosen to claim. None of these names could ever be found in books of the Old World, not even from our ancestors themselves. The only source of information was Mama herself, and she could not even tell us until it was time for that person to be summoned by the pendant. Xiumin was first with Qanik, then Luhan with Ge’Qan’Dong, then Kris with Draconi, and recently Captain Suho with Vitaquæ.”

“The elements must not be easy to master, I don’t doubt…” Onew muses.

“For those who have pendants, at first, it does seem challenging. But eventually you get the hang of allowing your pendant to work with you to command the elements. Suho here’s only just begun a few weeks ago, and he’s having some difficulties mastering the water around him,” Xiumin comments. “I’m the master of frost, which isn’t so bad; it is just solidifying the water.”

“Mine wasn’t too bad, either.” Luhan pipes up. “I started with small things and then moved on to bigger things. I don’t necessarily command the air around the objects or myself; I manipulate gravity, I guess. It’s like guiding the air molecules to move around. And the communication thing, that just happened naturally.”

“Hmph, Luhan had it easy. You didn’t have to necessarily work on yourself at first. It was awkward for me at first to get the hang of flying, but it didn’t take me long before I could fly like it’s the most natural thing for me to do,” Kris remarks.

“Yeah, sure…what was pretty funny though was that you started out with flapping your arms,” Luhan jokes as he flaps his arms, earning some laughs from the Angel crew and some smiles from the Lucifer crew. “You and your long limbs, you’d thought you were gonna transform into a dragon or something, just because your pendant was named Draconi.”

Kris glares at his friend, pink flushing his cheeks. “…At least I’m flying now without flapping my wings!” Even with that retort, Kris pulls Suho closer to him with his arm around the younger captain’s shoulders. Suho giggles softly and glances at his co-captain, looking almost apologetic.

“I see…no wonder Novae Alliance is eager to get their hands on them,” Onew rubs his chin thoughtfully, staring at the map of Ghondwan.

“Yeah…”

“Well, stars, this is gonna be an adventure…” Key says bitterly.

“…Why?” Suho looks warily at him.

“Joonmyeon, remember earlier, I mentioned about the Novae Alliance and how they were in search for your pendants? And that we had a misfortune in running into one of their groups at a pub?”

Suho looks at Onew, still wary. “Yes, what about it?”

“It was the crew of One-shot. One of the most deadliest groups anyone would wish to never cross paths with.”

\- - -

Suho’s eyes widen at the name, his body stricken with horror. “O-one…shot?”

Onew raises an eyebrow at Suho’s reaction. “…You know someone from there?”

Suho lowers his eyes to the ground, looking forlorn. “…Himchan…one of my neighbors from home…”

The captain of Lucifer slackens at the name, nodding in confirmation. “Aye, Himchan’s in that crew… The captain of the ship is Bang Yongguk. Ring a bell?” Suho shakes his head.

Taemin speaks up. “There are other groups in Red Moon, such as the crews of Hyde and Bimil. In Blue Sun, there’s Pandora, Fire, and such.”

“…Wait, did you say Bimil?”

Everyone looks surprised as they turn to D.O, whose face is aghast and his eyes wide.

“…Yes, I did say Bimil…” Taemin answers calmly. “The captain of that ship is Se-“

“Seo Eunkwang, first mate is Jung Ilhoon, and their pilot is Lim Hyunsik.” D.O huffs, as he is about to fall to his knees. Kai immediately grabs hold of him to keep him steady. “I can’t believe you guys…”

“…You know them, D.O?” Onew asks concernedly.

“Hyunsik was my neighbor back home… Ilhoon and Eunkwang were my brothers’ friends… They were good people… Why did they hide this from me? I knew Eunkwang was going to be a captain back then, and they had also founded Bimil, but they never told me that they were in some sort of alliance!! I hadn’t heard from them in so many years, and it has come to this that I find out they’re our enemy!”

“Wait, wait…” Baekhyun says, “You mean to tell me, that these guys were in our hometown? Chanyeol, did you know about this?!?”

“No! Kyungsoo, how come you knew them and we didn’t??”

“Uh, because he just said they were _neighbors_ ,” Jongdae retorts.

“Well, yeah but Kyungsoo, Baekhyun and I went to the same schools! We should’ve met them at some point!”

“Hyunsik…was home-schooled,” D.O explains weakly. “They all were… They’ve been around all these years and I didn’t even know…”

“…Oh.”

An awkward silence ensues as everyone share glances, most looking amazed at these startling discoveries. The captain of the Lucifer swears under his breath as he takes in these details.

“Anyway, how long has it been since your last pendant retrieval? They’re also looking for them too. And even if they get some, they’ll want to snatch yours too before they can enslave you.”

Suho glances at the holographic globe and map, looking completely desperate. “We can’t force the pendants to reveal quickly…” He says sullenly. “The pendants reveal to us in their own time… They call to us. I had recently acquired mine a few days ago… Yifan received his a few months ago. Luhan, at least six months before Yifan had his. And Minseok, he received his not too long before that. There’s no such thing as a pattern in time. It’s all random.”

“Are you serious?” Taemin snaps sharply, an expression of shock clearly written across his face. “We don’t have much time before they get to you all, and the pendants think it’s okay to just wait until they’re ready, or that you are worthy to heed their call? How do you even know _when and from where_ will they call you?”

“With that, smartypants,” Kai says sarcastically, as he points to the table and the globe. He does not make eye contact with Taemin; rather he seems to be talking to the objects themselves.

“That’s why we have every geographic and oceanographic scan readings up to date on these holograms. The mast up on the ship serves as a signal transmitter and receiver, attuned to the magic of the pendants, thanks to Aithyr.” Kai refers to the rock with a nod of his head. “When the pendants send out signals, we can pinpoint accurately to the minute degree and location where it is on the globe and on the table. The map on the table is a zoomed out version of an inset on the globe. Thought you’d figure out by now how this room operates with that book of yours, genius.”

Taemin watches Kai with a miffed yet studious look, as though he is searching for some kind of flaw in Kai’s expression. D.O has sense enough to pull back slightly from his boyfriend’s embrace and scold him softly to stop being so bitter already, emphasizing with a soft punch to Kai’s shoulder.

“So you’re saying that the next eight pendants, you won’t know the names until the time comes? And we won’t know where they will be?” The crewmembers of Angel shake their heads. “And who’s next now?”

“Me, sir,” Lay raises his hand, a small smile on his face. “I’m next.”

“Ahh…Lay, right? The Healer… We haven’t heard one sound from you since we’ve arrived on the Angel.” Onew chuckles as Lay smiles genuinely, showing off his dimples. He then sighs, his eyes scanning the room as he looks onto the faces of Angel’s crew.

“Okay…alright…we’re gonna need more time, and I’ll buy you that. As captain of the Lucifer, I swear to protect you all. We have allies too, and they can help fend off the Novae Alliance for some time. But we don’t have any sky animals quick enough to send letters and be evasive enou-“

“I can call the eagles, Jinki.” Luhan steps up. “I’m also a telepath, so I can communicate with the animals, if needed.”

“…My stars, you can communicate with the animals?” Onew cannot hide his amazement.

Luhan nods. “Whether by mind or verbal communication.” The captain of Lucifer raises his eyebrows.

“Well, then, we can definitely do this. Let’s get your eagles so I can send out letters to our allies.” The Lucifer’s captain lets Luhan lead the way outside the Cordius. “Wait, Jinki…” Suho stops him with his hand up. Onew stops, turning his gaze on his younger friend.

“Hmm?”

“Thank you, for coming all the way here, to forewarn us. And thank you, for being able to come to our aid, when we didn’t know we needed one.”

“Don’t thank me, actually. Thank Taemin here.” Onew looks to his youngest shipmate. Taemin tenses on his spot, as if Onew’s soft gaze can petrify him. Minho gives his lover a one-armed hug, smiling at him. “He’s the one who wanted us to come here as soon as possible. He wanted us to come to you guys, because he feared for his dear friend’s life, now that he knew where Jongin was and who he was with, according to our letters…” He looks to Kai.

“ _’Jongin’s my dear friend… Not a day goes by that I don’t even think about him,’_ he said,” Onew concludes with a small smile. “ _’I’d rather die than let him be enslaved…’_ ”

Heads are slowly turning to Kai, as the shipwright stares back at the captain in shock. Taemin averts his eyes to the ground, unable to bear the expression on his friend’s face.

Kai turns his gaze to Taemin, and a wave of shame washes over him.


	7. Remembrance and Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taemin clears up about the past, D.O loves his frying pan, and the Lucifer and Angel crews are training.

“Jongin?”

Taemin is knocking on the door impatiently, unable to stand the silence behind the wooden door of Kai’s and D.O’s shared bedroom. The silence that has been beating him up for the past five minutes. Meanwhile, D.O and Minho watch him from a close distance, the others having left the three of them alone with Kai on the other side of the door.

His mind replays the scene that has happened minutes ago inside and outside the Cordius.

_The Angel’s shipwright shot Taemin a look that was a mixture of hurt and confusion, not sure what to think of anymore. Taemin dared a glance upwards to meet with Kai’s gaze…_

_Almost immediately, the shipwright gave a faint shake of his head and was backing away with a few steps, until he turned around and fled from the room, the doors automatically opening for him. D.O, being the one closest to him, did nothing to stop him; he could only watch Kai’s retreating back, just like the others were doing._

_“Jongin, wait!”_

_The words escaped from Taemin’s lips a little too late, and Taemin ran after him, the others clearing away a path for him to run through._

_“WAIT! JONGIN!”_

_Taemin was back in the room with flights of stairs and ladders, trying to find Kai. He was quick to catch Kai climbing up a ladder on his right just before Kai’s feet vanished from view. He ran to the ladder in haste._

_“JONGIN, PLEASE WAIT!” Taemin yelled as he tried to get the hang of climbing up the ladder with speed, but Kai was already too fast for him. He heard the feet pattering against the perforated metal flooring above him just as his head reached past the first floor._

_The young man heard a slam of a door before he landed on the floor where Kai had gotten off. When Taemin reached the corridor, he stopped in his tracks to see that there was a double-loaded corridor of ten doors._

_What was even worse, all the doors were closed and identical down to the doorknob. Taemin groaned._

_“Jongin?” Taemin walked into the corridor, determined not to give up on reaching out to Kai._

_He heard footsteps behind him, and looked around to see D.O and Minho approaching him. The others were gathered at the far opposite side of where the three of them are._

_“Taemin?” D.O’s voice caught the young man’s attention. There was sympathy written across his face. “Erm, Jongin and I, we share a room over there.” The short man led Lucifer’s two members to the third door on the left side._

_“Jongin, it’s Kyungsoo…” D.O tested the door to see if it was locked, placing his fingers in the grooved handle and giving it a light pull.  It was indeed locked.  He then raised a hand to knock on the door gently, with a series of rhythmic taps. He glanced briefly at Taemin and Minho before speaking up._

_“…May I come in?…” D.O said softly._

_There was only silence from behind the door. D.O let out a sigh, knowing that Kai would tend to bottle things up once more again._

_Taemin grew impatient as the seconds and the minutes went by, frustrated at his friend’s silence. He made his way over to the door, with D.O quick to step away and let him handle the situation. The taller man knocked hurriedly without rhythm._

_“Jongin?” His voice was a little more forceful, and he didn’t care that he sounded demanding. “Jongin, open the door. We need to talk.”_

_The door still did not open._

_So they waited…and waited._

“Come on, Jongin, open the door…” Taemin growls, trying hard not to feel so pissed about his friend’s attitude. “I get why you reacted the way you did earlier, but you should know that it’s a lot different from my perspective on how I dealt with things back then.” He rests his forehead against the cool metal surface of the door, letting out an exasperated sigh.

Taemin softens his tone. “Honestly, I can’t blame you for being like this; you thought that I’d forgotten about you after all these years. The truth is, I haven’t. It’s the honest-to-goodness truth, Jongin. When we were on our way here, even though I was hoping on a whim that our reunion would be a happy one, I _had_ expected that you would be upset with me… And I _know_ the years behind us are too many that it’s not easy to forgive and forget, so I’m sorry for that.”

On the other side of the door, Kai has been sitting on his bed with his back against the wall, listening to his friend’s monologue. He has his arms crossed, legs drawn up to his chest, and has been glaring at the door, imagining where Taemin’s face is behind it.

“I’m sorry that you were led to believe that I was gone but, Jongin, I had no way of reaching you the moment Fate sent me to the Lucifer. I had no way to go back to you because I had no idea where we were, and I didn’t even know if we were in the same dimension. We were on missions with our captain once I got on board, and I…I was only a young man back then with a book, with an insatiable thirst for knowledge and adve-…“ Kai’s ears perk up at the sudden interruption but he scowls even further when he realizes that Taemin was about to say ‘adventure’. “…I just want you to know that you’ve never left my mind after all these years.”

Kai rolls his eyes. _Yeah right_ , he thinks to himself. He stares outside the window, the clouds billowing gently in the bright sky.

“You told me about that day when you found out our ship was docking in our hometown...” Kai looks back sharply at the door.  “…And how you waited at the tree where we used to meet all the time. And that you waited a long time for me.” There is a pause of silence as Taemin sighs softly on the other side of the door.

“…I saw you.”

Kai’s eyes widen at the revelation.

“I saw you sitting there at the base of the tree, picking at the grass, watching our ship at the dock.”

That makes Kai straighten up.

“Sometimes you climbed up the tree and would look around, waiting, mumbling to yourself. And all I could do was just hide behind one of the hedges.”

 _What?_ Kai makes a face. _Why would he hide?_ He remembers the scattered hedges surrounding the tree, wondering why he had overlooked them since Taemin said he had hid behind one of them.

“Right now, you’re wondering why I hid myself from you…” Kai glowers at the door, “and it was because of the shock and the shame. I was shocked, because I wasn’t sure if you were some kind of dream…”

Kai softens at the statement, realizing that at that time, he had looked exactly the same as he always had been before their fight, before he met Taemin for the first time. Even now, he looks unchanged. He never should have kept his age a secret from him; they had been best friends after all. It is not long before Kai hears Taemin speak up again, with this time, the tone sounding much more gentle and pensive.

“You were exactly the same Jongin I had seen many years before then, so I didn’t know how to react. But then I heard you talking to yourself, and the more that I listened, the more that I realized that you were actually alive and living in that time...” There is another brief silence on the other side of the door. “I couldn’t return to you just like that, knowing that after what happened that night and how long it had been, you might have freaked out and thought that I was a ghost. Look where our predicaments got us.”

Kai moves closer to the door, his hand reaching for the built-in grooved handle and resting there.

“When I realized earlier that you guys were much older than what I took you to be, you especially, it all started to make sense. And I don’t know why you never told me about it back when we were friends; I thought we trusted each other. I had lost my parents but I still had you… Jongin, I’m sorry that I lashed out at you; I don’t know why I did that, I really don’t.  I felt so ashamed that I had yelled at you and left you there. You didn’t fail me on anything, Jongin.”

The sudden click and opening of the door makes Taemin, D.O, and Minho almost jump out of their skins, startled as Kai appears instantly into view, his scowl etched on his face.

“So what made you join Lucifer that night?” Taemin maintains Kai’s intense stare as he listens to his friend practically seething. “What made you accept Fate’s offer that night compared to those three previous months when you had said no? Was it because of our fight?”

Taemin slowly shakes his head. “No, it was never because of our fight. We said things that we shouldn’t have meant, because we knew we were better than that. Jongin, I didn’t have a choice as to _when_ I was going to board that ship. Fate offered me that night following our fight, and I just wanted to be done with my grief over my parents’ deaths, to be done with the failed attempts of learning what killed my parents. You told me to move on, and I listened.” He sees Kai’s scowl fading away slowly at this point. “But I took the easy way out to get over my grief: accept her offer. I just didn’t know that it would be right away that there was no time for me to say goodbye to you, or at least let you know that I was aboard the Lucifer.”

Kai stares at Taemin for a long period of silence with an unreadable expression. No one dares to say a word or even move, until Kai speaks.

“I thought you _died_ …” Kai lowers his gaze and stares at the book in his friend’s hand. “And sometimes, I didn’t find that likely, so I resorted to thinking you were on Lucifer.” He looks back up to Taemin’s eyes. “Thank the stars you told me about Fate and Lucifer in those three months, because if you hadn’t, I would’ve really thought you died.  And you would’ve left me all alone in that town. Well, you technically did, but…at least I had a feeling you were still alive somewhere.”

Taemin has a small assuring grin on his face. “You know better that I wouldn’t die because of my grief, Jongin. Fate couldn’t let me save my parents or bring them back. So when I accepted her offer, she may have taken my soul, but she didn’t take away my memories, especially those important and dear to me, like my parents…and you. I still had you in my life back then…and I still have you _now_.” He dares to place a hand on Kai’s shoulder, and to his surprise, Kai does not flinch at all. “And yes, thank the stars that I entrusted you with that information about Fate and Lucifer. I was really touched that you waited for me for so long, despite our fight.

“But now, now that we’re here…we acknowledge each other and our past and our faults… Can we be friends again? Can you forgive me now, Jongin?”

Kai continues to stare at Taemin. “Why?” he asks flatly.

Taemin feels like Kai’s question punched him in the gut as his smile drops. He removes his hand from Kai’s shoulder. But to his surprise, Kai immediately pulls him in for a hug. He didn’t know how to react, feeling Kai’s arms wrap around him tight.

Taemin hears Kai murmuring in his ear. “Idiot, I forgave you already a few minutes ago, when I told you that I thought you had died. So, of course we can go back to being friends. Best friends even.”

Taemin feels like he had been slapped upside the head. He slowly responds by wrapping his arms around his friend, an airy chuckle escaping him. Kai chuckles, before the two of them pull apart.

“When I saw you up on the deck, for a brief moment, I couldn’t believe what I had seen too. You had changed and matured, but you were still somehow the same Taemin I knew at least a century ago. But all those years of waiting for you and giving up on you eventually made me more hateful than forgiving. And there were some things I didn’t mean that I should’ve taken back…” Kai bites his lower lip, shortly averting his gaze. “You weren’t nothing to me at all, Taemin; you still meant something to me. You are my friend, the only one friend that I’ve cherished.  But not like Kyungsoo,” — he glances at his lover who is a few feet away, with Minho standing next to him, and he can see the soft smile on D.O’s face — “because he’s the one I love the most and he’s more than a friend to me.” Kai grins at the said male, before returning his gaze to his friend.

“When I heard from Captain Onew downstairs the words you told them…” Kai trails off before picking up again, shaking his head slowly, “I wasn’t sure whether to believe it or not…but now that we’ve come clean, I believe it and I believe you.” He smiles earnestly.

Taemin smiles back, feeling relieved. “Mm, yeah…” He pulls Jongin in for a second hug. “It would’ve been okay even if you didn’t.  It wouldn't change anything, or the way I feel about you. I’d still go out on a limb for you.” They pull away again, and Taemin gives into the urge of tousling his friend’s hair.

“Hey!” Kai pouts as he ducks a second too late. “I’m not a kid… I’m older than you.”

“Yeah well, in my head, you’ll always be one year younger than me.” Taemin chuckles, patting gently on his friend’s cheek, before he wraps one arm around Kai’s shoulders.  He sighs cheerily as he stands next to him, both of them looking at Minho and Kyungsoo.

“Fate is a funny woman; she brought us together in a time when there could’ve been a better time. In fact there was a better time,” Taemin looks at Kai before the latter mirrors the gesture, “when we arrived at our hometown, but we ruined the opportunity.” He shrugs, a grin still planted on his face. “I guess I deserved your anger the moment we saw each other for the price that I defied Fate back then.”

\- - -

“So Joonmyeon, where is Dawn?” Onew asks the young captain as almost everyone gather around the common room.  At first, they had held their breaths when they heard Taemin’s voice getting louder and more serious, but they chose to ignore it a few seconds later, respecting the privacy and continuing to chatter on.

“Dawn’s at the bottom of the ship.”

The mechanic genius whips his head around, breaking off his conversation with Chen, Yixing and Zitao. “At the bottom of the ship?? I thought the Cordius was at the bottom…”

“Technically, it is. But the very bottom of the ship only holds a space for Dawn.  She’s not that big or that tall, really.  She’s something of a small junk.”

Key frowns. “Excuse me, junk?”

“It’s something we call ‘zhōu’ in one of our old languages, but I don’t know if you recognize the word today, ‘cáo’?” Kris says.

“…” Key shakes his head. Kris looks to the others of the Lucifer crew, and they both nod.

“My dad…owned one,” Jonghyun reminisces. “It’s a nice vessel. We called it by the latter term in our time.  Must’ve evolved since the Great Divide.”

“Yeah, so that’s the junk we call Dawn. She’s fairly old, she’s been with us since the Old World.”

Onew stares at Kris and Suho.

“Why have I not seen it then?”

“It belonged to my uncle…one of the legendary few sky pirates back then. He owned a few ships, so this was one of them,” Suho explains. “You hadn’t seen Dawn back then because my uncle used it a lot when he retired, and we had used it to travel to the ancient cave. It too got preserved safely by Mama.”

Onew whistles as he looks around. “Well then, it’s quite astounding, what you all have. This ship is, by far, the largest I have seen, and definitely not traditional.” Jonghyun and Key nod in agreement.

Onew jerks a little. “Ah, I just remembered something; how great are your gunmanship? Your artillery skills and combat skills?”

Subtle looks and furtive glances are exchanged in the common room, as some members of the Angel crew look a little nervous at the prospect of engaging in such an intense confrontation with their deadliest enemies.

Suho hesitates before he lists off the members and their skills.  “Um…Xiumin, Luhan, Kris, myself, Baekhyun and Chanyeol are pretty good with artillery skills. Kris, Baekhyun and I handle guns, while Luhan, Xiumin and Chanyeol handle swords. Baekhyun, Kai, and Zitao know martial arts. Lay has incredible archery skills, but he tends to be more of a healer than a killer. As for Chen, D.O, and Sehun, they’re not quite up to par, because they don’t really deal with combat a lot. They just kind of work behind the stage.” Chen and Sehun nod hastily in agreement when the members of Lucifer look to them.

“Hmm…Chen, you look like the type of person to use a gun; D.O, too. Sehun, you look like you can work with a bow, or crossbows even …or even other weapons like boomerangs and daggers…” Onew ponders, watching the three members. “Or maybe all four of you can work with long range weapons…”

“I’d rather with daggers or boomerangs…” Chen says. “I’m confident with my throwing arm. D.O on the other hand,” the navigator chuckles, “can just use his frying pan, that’s deadly enough.”

There is a sudden uproar of laughter in the room from most of the Angel crew. The Lucifer crew smiles at the sight.

“But really, you’ll have to ask D.O how he’ll feel about handling a gun. If he doesn’t like it, let him use his frying pan,” Chen chortles.

Onew shakes his head amusedly before turning his gaze to the youngest member in the room. “So what’ll it be for you, Sehun?”

“I’ll have the crossbow. I’ve always wanted to have one. And a dagger, it’s a versatile tool to have, in my opinion,” Sehun smirks, making actions of throwing the dagger, slicing and stabbing the air.

“So two weapons, then?”

“Yeah, is that okay with you…?”

“It’s perfectly okay with me, but are you sure you can handle yourself with both weapons?”

Sehun shrugs. “I don’t see why not. I’ve got two hands to work with. And if one fails, at least I got a back-up.”

Onew rubs his chin thoughtfully. “Smart lad you are…”

Suho smiles at Sehun before he turns his attention to the captain of the Lucifer. “But, Jinki…we haven’t had any enemies to deal with lately. This ship isn’t quite armed, neither is Dawn. Angel’s an expedition ship, so the only fire-y weapon we have is our thrusters in the back of the ship.”

“I can maybe try to give her some weapons, if you like?” Key offers with a slight shrug. “It might take several days but we’ll be with you for some time anyway. It’s not a problem.”

“Oh, okay, thank you,” Suho says appreciatively. Key shakes his head, “Don’t mention it. It’s an incredible honor to work with this ship.”

“So, with that being said, we’re gonna help you with your training. We’re gonna do the best we can to make sure you guys are ready and able to fight against these guys, with or without our help. As much as we want to stick with you guys all the way, Novae Alliance shows no mercy to those who aid you. So…if you happen to find yourself without us, the least we can do is trust in you guys to come out of this chase as the victor.”

Onew senses the nervous atmosphere in the room as the reality continues to sink into the minds of his younger friends. He gives a little nod, his face showing compassion.

“As for the magic,” Onew continues, “you’ll have Taemin and I to help you out. Two of you against one of us.” He notes the extreme looks on the four older members. “Oh, we’ve had training and experience enough to handle the two of you, so don’t worry about it,” he reassures with a smile.

“Thank you…Jinki,” Suho says, really expressing his gratitude. His hand automatically searches for Kris’ hand for comfort, and when it does, he feels Kris’ thumb rubbing against the back of his hand, reassuring him. He blushes when he catches Onew’s gaze falling upon their hands, but the older captain says nothing about it and smiles instead.

Silence falls upon the room before Baekhyun’s voice breaks it.

“…This is really happening…”

“Our lives have come to this deadly chase over the pendants that are rightfully ours…and to fight for them…” Chen says mournfully, “Yep, this is definitely a cursed life we have.”

“What are you talking about? Fight for what?”

Everyone looks to the entrance of the common room upon the sound of Kai’s voice, where Minho, Taemin, Kai, and D.O are standing there, the latter two looking a little panicked.

Onew takes a moment to stand up and walks over to them. With a gentle sigh, he places both hands on Kai and D.O’s shoulders, and looking at them in the eyes.

Just as Onew is about to speak, Chen’s voice interrupts the moment.

“Better enjoy our last day today, because tomorrow will be he-OW!” Chen rubs a sore spot on his arm where Baekhyun has just punched him, and it catches everyone’s attention. “Geez that hurt!” He whines, trying to rub the pain off his arm.

“ _Your_ hell’s just begun, Chen,” Baekhyun smirks.

“ _Ahem_.” Onew clears his throat, raising his eyebrows at the duo as he gives a forced smile. The two males have the decency to look ashamed as they mutter their apologies. He nods, acknowledging their sincerity before turning around to look at Kai and D.O.

“We will be training with you all to the best of our abilities, so that you guys can defend yourself should you fight with the Novae Alliance.”

Onew notices the two males losing color on their faces.

“Kai, I’ve been told you’ve taken up martial arts in the past. I think that’s good enough for you as an asset.  D.O, I want to give you the option of handling a weapon: a dagger, a boomerang, bow and arrows — or crossbow for that matter, — or a gun?”

D.O hesitates under the gaze of Captain Onew and Kai.

“Can I…just use my frying pan?”

Snickers fill the room as Chen’s voice is heard once again.

“I TOLD YOU.”

\- - -

The boomerang clatters at Chen’s feet.

“Alright, try again.”

Chen groans, rubbing his shoulder and giving it a stretch. It has been only a week since the Lucifer met up with the Angel crew. Onew had already sent the letters thanks to Luhan’s eagles, and at one point, a question was raised about Lucifer’s concealment due to its assistance with Angel. Key had explained to Chen about the illusion spell he placed on the ship, and the whole crew of Angel was in awe. It also prompted Onew to summon a pseudo-cumulus congestus cloud to surround both ships, leaving a bubble of clear visibility for both crews on the Angel to work with.

Hidden in the clouds, the Lucifer crew had been training with the Angel crew on some days, often relaxing on other days. This day has been quite productive for everyone, and they have shown signs of improvement. Well, at least some of them have.

“This is the twentieth time already today…and my boomerang hasn’t returned to me at all. What am I doing wrong?”

Chen has received his wooden boomerang that was made by Key a few days ago, and has been practicing with it whenever the chance he gets. He read so much about the basic techniques of handling a boomerang and the applications, but when it came to doing it, his attempts were futile.

“What about those five times it did?” Luhan pipes up from the helm. Chen glares at him.

“You sabotaged it! Just like you did yesterday and the day before!”

“Me? Nooo,” the pilot of Angel guffaws. “Don’t be silly.”

_“I’m not!”_

“Calm down, don’t get your panties got in a twist. You know your throw is becoming very weak today…or maybe it’s actually your mind.”

“Shut it!”

“Chen, I really do think your arm is telling you it needs a break…” Jonghyun murmurs softly, standing next to the navigator. “You need to keep your emotions and distractions at bay, and keep focusing on the boomerang as the extension of your arm.”

“Extension of my arm?” Chen stoops to pick it up and rises back on his feet, scowling at the boomerang. “Well…My arm does feel like it’s already ripped off, sewn back, and the process repeat itself all over again.” He looks up to see Luhan happily sitting on the railings. “And Luhan, why don’t you friggin’ help me out here for a change, instead of sabotaging it?”

“Nope.” The pilot of the Angel shakes his head. “I’m only here to keep your boomerang at bay, if it ever goes awry out there.”

“Awry, my ass. You almost cost me my boomerang a few times earlier today!”

“That was just for good fun, Chen…” Luhan chuckles.

Chen growls. He closes one eye, aiming for an invisible target in the sky, and hurls the boomerang. What happens next shocks the three of them, as the boomerang finally makes a comeback. The three of them gape for a moment before Luhan yells at Chen to get ready to grab the boomerang. Chen braces himself as it nears toward him at an accelerating speed.

“OW!”

There is a noise of a clatter as the wooden boomerang falls to the floor several feet away from Chen, its momentum broken from colliding with Chen’s hand. Cursing, the navigator is shaking his hand to ease off the pain, while Jonghyun watches on flabbergasted.

“How could you miss that chance to catch it?!” Luhan yells. “You only had one out of two chances, two _easy_ chances by the way, and you _failed_ to catch it??”

“Easy for you to say, you can just stop it with your mind…you mind freak,” Chen growls under his breath as he walks toward his boomerang.

“I heard that!” Chen whirls around and looks up, startled.

“I didn’t say anything!”

“No, but your voice was being annoying in my head,” Luhan smirks. “Seriously, Chen, even if you whisper or not say a word, no matter how much your brain tries to shut off its voice, I will still hear it.”

\- - -

Meanwhile, Jinki is mentoring Xiumin on his sword techniques and sparring with bamboo sticks. Minho is also sparring with Chanyeol, giving him pep talks throughout their practice. Neither of them has broken a sweat yet, a little breathless. The intermittent _clack-clack_ sounds of the clashing poles offset the _swoosh_ sounds of the scabbards and Minho’s voice. They go at each other every other day, while in other days, Jinki and Taemin would practice with Angel’s four eldest members.

But today is sparring day for Xiumin and Chanyeol. Baekhyun and Lay are watching nearby, with Lay’s archery equipment standing between them.

“Would you look at these guys? They’re _crazy_ good. No, not even good, they’re amazing…” Baekhyun murmurs in awe, as he compliments the two Lucifer crewmembers. Lay nods as he watches the scene.  “But I suppose that’s what happens when you’ve been around for so long, training in combat with the enemies and monsters.”

Baekhyun fiddles with one of Lay’s arrows grouped in a case. “Why didn’t you ever put your archery skills into good use ever since Luhan turned twenty-one, twenty-one and he got his pendant? We knew by now he’s a telepath, but ever since he revealed to us that he is one, you stopped using your bow and arrows at all. You haven’t even been practicing the past few days…“

Lay shrugs as he runs a finger along the string of his bow. “I figured since he was going to be a telepath, what with communicating almost all beings, and I usually hunt for game, I wouldn’t dare harm them, except for those in water. It’s hard not to feel guilty if I did something unto an animal that Luhan might find helpful. So I stay away from them unless Luhan tells me it is alright.”

“Well, okay but you are also helping D.O with his cooking supply of food, think about that. I mean, no offense, we’ve had delicious seafood meals in the last few months with a few meat dishes here and there that were not of your own doing, but…couldn’t you just go ahead and hunt anyway? I’m sure most of us have already noticed by now, the shift in our eating lifestyle…”

“I suppose…” Lay mutters as the line fades into the air.

“But even if it isn’t about the food, you still have that exceptional skill. You’re quite an odd person of contrasting abilities, Lay…you know that? Being a healer as well. Archer and Healer never go in the same sentence.” Baekhyun and Lay chuckle at the last line.

“It's like I control life and death…” Lay notes. “And that’s a very strange thing…”

Aboard the Lucifer’s deck, Key is teaching Sehun how to work the crossbow, lending him one of his old training crossbows that he made, as the co-captains of Angel watch on.

“Keep your eye on the target but line your vision up with that hole on the bow. It’ll help you fire with accuracy, got that? You’re aiming for the chest unless you wanna make him drown in his blood by the throat.”

Sehun nods, and Key smiles proudly. _The kid’s learned fast_ , Key thinks to himself, as he looks at the large canvas of an outline of a dummy placed at the pole of the mast.  He sees some arrows right on the spot, the chest of the outline, and then a lot around the neck area. There are only a couple of arrows that are on the head, but these had been Sehun’s first few attempts.

“Key, you’ve been training with our youngest for the past forty-five minutes. Let him have a break; we need training, too,” Suho negotiates with the mechanic.

“I don’t need to train with you two lovebirds,” Key says with a sass thrown in the captains’ direction. “The first fifteen minutes of the hour, the both of you kept making gooey eyes and it made me sick watching little hearts float around your heads. Why did I get stuck with you two, I don’t even know…” He shudders, as he turns around again to work with Sehun. “Such annoying lovebirds…”

“How is that any different from you with Minho and Taemin?” Kris smirks as he notices Key tensing up. The taller boatswain recoils a bit under the light slap on his chest from Suho’s hand, despite the shorter captain having a half-amused, half-shocked expression.

“ _Yifan…_ ” Suho mouths silently, his awed expression still on his face. Kris shrugs slightly, his smirk still on his face.

“For your information, _Kris_ …” Key whips his head around to glare at the taller captain. “Between you and me, I’m not the one getting owned and whipped by my lovers.”

That wipes off the smirk off Kris’ face, and earns a chuckle from Sehun.

At the railings of the Angel’s side, not facing Lucifer, four young men are looking out to the cloudy horizon. D.O and Kai are in their little world, standing far away from Taemin and Zitao. Taemin does not mind, and so he takes his chance to learn a little bit about the priest next to him.

“So Zitao, you’re a priest… what’s your take on the prophecy?”

Zitao eyes Taemin warily. “What do you mean?”

“Don't you have some sort of…I don’t know, issue of conflict over this?” Taemin shrugs.

“Well, no, not really? I mean, in my time, being a priest didn’t mean it was all about faith.  Being a priest was being a member of faith and reality. I could pray to the saints for miracles and divine intervention via angels, but I do happen to know that the different faiths tend to come from the same source of how it all began.

“It began with nothing. And from nothing, there was something. That something, led to many things. And the multiplication goes on from there.  That ‘nothing’ was the very source of the different faiths we had…or have.”

Taemin’s brow creases in confusion. “So you believe in nothing?”

“No…” Zitao says sharply, “It takes a miracle for that ‘nothing’ to become ‘something’. We all believe what we want to believe, but the idea is that we came up with different foundations for our faiths from the same source of ‘nothing’.”

Taemin’s frown deepens. “So…with this prophecy… You’re saying that regardless of the faith in your time, these prophecies hold themselves to be beyond the reasoning of faith? Beyond the shamans’ understandings, the priests’, the monks’, all those religious figures’?”

“Yes. These prophecies do not specify for any religious faith. They are merely instruments of a time that once existed for a time that is yet to begin.”

“Instruments of time?”

“Mhm. Time is what we can also believe in. In time, everything has a purpose.”


	8. "ROO, JONGHYUN'S HERE!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one's in Jurassic World/Park/whatever.

As Suho enters the Cordius, he sees that almost everyone is there, gathered around the table with the holographic topography on it, while the others are following behind him.

“So where is this pendant, Chen??”

“Get this, it’s at a remote  _ floating  _ island,” Chen emphasizes with a brief stare at his captain, receiving a slight frown in reply, before he looks back down to the topographical holograms, “but the beacon signal is situated on a river in a jungle…”

“Hang on, floating island?” Suho asks for reiteration, and the navigator nods. “Well, that’s a first.”

“Why, where had you received your pendants?” Onew directs this question to the four pendant owners.

“I got mine at an ancient ice shelf down below that bordered two seas. I believe it was Mjers Parfum... Or was it Mjersi?”

“Mjersi, Minseok. Mjers Parfum is the toxic one, remember?”

“Ah, that’s right. I almost suffocated with the toxins…” Xiumin chuckles weakly.

“Yeap. Anyways, I got mine from a cliff overlooking some desert, D’varmnot.”

“Mine was from a mountaintop, tallest of the Ganore mountain range.”

“Mine was at a underwater temple in the sea of O’seine.”

“Wow, these names are indeed from our time, how about that?” Onew is impressed with the presence of the names from the Old World. He spots the Old World map on one of the screens, and is nostalgic with how some of those locations were commutable from his home in Velspar. Looking at the New World, the locations have been further displaced and no longer closeby.

Meanwhile, Chen studies the topography on the table, and he scrutinizes for a name. “Huh, would you look at that? The area near the jungle is called Weefyr. River, Weefyr. Gee…someone couldn’t come up with a better name than th-?”

“Hang on a moment…”

The crew of Angel looks to Onew who is walking slowly to the table, glancing between the holographic globe suspended in the air and topography. His eyes finally rest on the topography and they hurriedly scan the area.

“This looks very familiar…”

“Uhm…” Chen’s eyes wander from Onew to the map, uncertain with what part of the map is familiar to the captain. “There’s a temple that’s said to house The Chalice of Ravyns.”

Captain Onew jerks his head upwards to look at Chen, and so does the rest of the Lucifer crew.

_ “The Chalice of Ravyns?” _ The five members voice out at the same time, startling the whole Angel crew.

“Y-yeah…the chalice that’s said to contain the…”

“The intelligence of the gods,” Taemin finishes. “We know. I mean, well, we have it.”

Chen’s eyes widen in surprise. “You  _ have _ it?”

“We…went there once…”

_ “You have it??”  _ Chen repeats, looking shocked.

“Yes…”

“Wait, what’s the big deal with the chalice?” Chanyeol asks.

“It’s one of the most heavily protected treasures from the Old World. No one dares to get the chalice because no one ever gets out of the temple alive. Surely, you have heard of it, Chanyeol. It belonged to one of the ancient clans, the Veylsh. That temple’s been around in our time, too.” The navigator gives Chanyeol a pointed look.

“We came from a small town…” The quartermaster shrugs, as if it is an excuse enough.

“Well, you should’ve known your history prope-“

“ _ Guys. _ ” Kris’ voice booms in the room. “Lay’s  _ pendant _ …where is it?”

“Near the jungle, I said!” Chen reiterates. “It’s right on top of a river…of some sort.”

“…Of some sort?”

“Yeah, the temple is supposed to house some kind of …underground…” — Chen frowns deeply in thought, because according to the holographic globe, the land is obviously a floating mass — “lake…somewhere under the earth… It must be a freaking huge temple, then…”

“Okay, so how far is it and where?”

Chen studies the globe. “It’s about a three days’ trip…”

Kris sighs. “Even at the fastest speed?”

“Even at the fastest speed…we’re going against the winds, captain.”

“This kind of gives us some time to practice, though…” Suho reasons with his partner. “I would need the practice, at least.” Kris looks at Suho, and he doesn’t challenge it, knowing that Suho is slowly but surely making his way to mastering the water element.

“Uhm, I would need to agree with the captain on this. There’re some monsters, and humongous - and I’m talking three stories high - reptiles with nerve-stunning bites.”

“ROO!” Jonghyun exclaims, looking like an excited puppy. “We’ll finally get to see Roo again!”

“Oh yeah…” Onew remembers with a chuckle. “Huh, the landscape’s changed since last we were there…”

“…”

“Who the fu-“ Chanyeol begins to curse – “ _ Ahem _ ,” Suho clears his throat – “uhhck is Roo? Captain, I don’t give a damn, with all due respect. We’re doomed anyway.” That gets a slight raise of eyebrows from Suho.

“See, Roo is Jonghyun’s…” Key snorts, “well, his  _ baby reptilian child _ … I see no difference between these two, honestly.”

“But you can’t deny that he has grown on you, Key…” Jonghyun says smugly.

Key does not retort back upon that line, rolling his eyes behind closed lids, instead he ignores it and asks Chen.

“Do we have a name of that temple, or the deity, as I recall a week ago or so?”

“Mhm, Temple of Te’zeen, said to be the god of healing, which makes sense since Yixing’s a healer.”

“And Lay, did…Mama,” The mechanic sounds skeptical as he directs the question to the said male, “tell you the name of your pendant?”

“Yes, she did, a few moments before Chen sent out the alarm. It’s Qi’Lin.”

Key hums thoughtfully.

“I should also add that there will be hunters. Not the Novae Alliance, guys” - Onew catches the alarmed looks among the Angel crew - “Dinosaur hunters. We got lucky to avoid any contact with them the last time we were there. So, best be prepared with your weapons by the time we get there.”

_ Great, more training to do _ , Chen grumbles in his mind,  _ and Luhan better not b- _ He gets a soft whack on his head from behind, and whirls around to see Luhan smirking at him.

_ Care to finish that sentence? _

Chen averts his eyes and mentally shuts up, thankful that no one had seen their wordless conversation.

\- - -

“Land ho!”

Lay looks up from a book he borrowed from Taemin, a supposed volume on white magic. The Lucifer’s book holder was gifted with white and green magic after he first boarded the Lucifer, so healing, protection, and such were his specialties. It was natural that Taemin would give counsel to Lay on methods of healing.

The healer of Angel wonders if he hears Baekhyun correct, that there is land nearby, because it has only been almost three days of nothing.

“LAANNNNDD HOOO!!” The voice sounds less distant than before, and Lay can only assume that Baekhyun is approaching the corridor of the quarters.

Chen jerks immediately, stirring from his nap next to Lay, and he mutters something about “Baekhyun”, “banshee”, “scroll”, and “throat”. Lay chuckles, shaking his head at Chen’s crude manner, with a slight disapproval on his face.

There is a light moaning noise from Chen as he stretches in their shared bed. 

“Xiiiing…” Chen groans as he blinks sleepily. Lay turns his head to look at his lover. “We're getting close to the destination, aren’t we?” He lazily wraps an arm around Lay’s middle, snuggling up his side and opening his eyes a little to peer upwards at Lay.

“Mhm.”

“… And how are you feeling? …Are you…scared?” Chen shrugs before he lets the last word out, thinking back on how two of the four eldest members had to deal with dangerous encounters after they retrieved their pendants. With Luhan, they were lucky that he was granted such power, because the temple had laid out even more booby traps once he acquired the pendant; bullets, rocks, and arrows rained down on them from every direction, and Luhan stopped them at the very last moment before making them fall to the ground where they would not harm the group as the crew fled from the place. Suho’s was an experience neither Chen nor anyone else would like to relive.

Lay smiles a little, pondering on what’s to happen the moment they dock the island, but no doubt, he has been thinking back on what had happened to their eldest members.

“I’m ready. Come whatever, I’m ready, because I’ve got all of you with me, you especially.” He moves one of his arms to place around Chen’s head, his fingers brushing through the navigator’s hair. “You’re a smart lad; you’ve got my back. And we have the Lucifer with us, too.”

Chen bites on his lower lip. “But we’ve seen what had happened to Captain Suho and Luhan…they had some dangerous encounters after they got their pendants. How would this be any different, with or without the Lucifer?”

“I’m a healer, Jongdae.” Lay reminds his close friend. “Taemin’s a healer, and so is Jonghyun. We’re together in this, so no one is falling behind.”

**_BANG BANG BANG._ **

The sudden noises from behind the metal door causes both Lay and Chen to jump, almost having heart attacks from them.

“OY YOU TWO.”  **_BANG BANG BANG._ ** “GET OUT AND SEE THE ISLAND.  DON’T TAKE TOO LONG PLAYING WITH YOUR STAFFS AND SCROLLS.”

“PISS OFF, BAEKHYUN!!” Chen screams at the door, having pushed himself up on his hands on the bed, his face burning red. Whether by embarrassment or anger, Lay can’t tell; he actually thinks that Baekhyun means that they are taking too long literally reading and practicing their skills. Chen falls back down in a surprisingly gentle manner to rest on Lay’s chest, assuming his original position.

Lay chuckles softly, one of his hands still has not left Chen’s hair the whole time. “We should get going soon, though.” He continues to card his fingers through the soft strands.

Chen grumbles something in a quiet voice.

Lay doesn’t catch it. “Hmm?”

Chen speaks up a little louder. “I don’t wanna go just yet. This feels nice…” He feels the rumble in his lover’s lithe body as sounds of laughter emits from Lay’s mouth, causing him to feel giddy as well.

“There will be more of that when we get back, okay?”

The navigator holds to that offer.

\- - -

“Whoa, that’s one hell of a big floating island,” Chanyeol says, ignoring Suho’s light warning slap on his arm.

The island is almost exactly as the Lucifer crew remembers it, but for the Angel crew, it is an amazing sight to behold. This giant floating hunk of land with a huge chunk of the earth below is ever so still in the air, with its magnificence and its glory. The other islands in the sky surrounding the island destination are small in comparison.

“And look, the river…” Everyone looks up as Tao points to the area of the floating mass where there is a waterfall gushing out constantly, dissolving into air. “How does the river manage to stay a river with an island up high in the sky, when there’s water thousands of feet below?”

Sehun speaks up. “Didn’t Chen say the temple houses some sort of underground lake? For all we know, a god protects that temple, and when it’s something like that, sometimes the impossible is possible. Maybe inside that underground earth, there is a lake that never runs out.”

The group nods, agreeing with Sehun’s explanation, most of them remembering that detail just now.

\- - -

When the ships have found themselves anchored tightly to the land mass, under the guidance of Captain Onew, the crews then get off and make their way to a clearing in the jungle territory. 

“Alright, so Chen, where do we go from here?” Captain Suho inquires, making careful observations of the surroundings. He is not the only one, as Kris, Luhan, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Jongin do the same, some out of habit and some out of responsibility.

“Hold on, I can’t get the bearings right. Let me calibrate this for a second,” the navigator mutters as he fiddles with his holographic device, “Stupid land mass is meddling with the gravitational field.”

“May we offer our services to guide you through the jungle? You said it’s near the Veylsh temple?” Captain Onew volunteers.

“Relatively near, I should say; because the temples of Te’zeen and the Veylsh are about ten miles of each other, if I recall from the readings back in the ship. And the Veylsh temple is nowhere near the main river in which Lay’s pendant is located in. Ah, there we go.” The gadget on his wrist makes a  _ blip _ sound before the holographic screen pops up, and Chen can see a bunch of dots labeled on the grid, marking each and every one with a yellow dot and their name.

“Uh, there are three water channels on this island,” Taemin voices out, his gaze on the pages of his book where a drawing of the land mass can be made visible to his eyes only. Some members of the Angel crew are amazed at the magical asset, although sharing frowned looks between each other, the book, and Taemin, for the pages are blank to their eyes. “Which main river are you talking about?”

“...Right, I forgot about that bit. I meant to say the larger accessible river channel. Near the intersection. I say accessible because it was almost wide enough for our ship to sail on. It would’ve been an extremely tight fit…”

“And that’s a risk I’m not willing to take, Chen, remember that.” 

“Yes, Captain.”

“Anyway, the three water channels do intersect at a point, and one of those actually runs past the Veylsh temple, remember?” Taemin directs this question to his fellow Lucifer crew.

The three crew members nod. “And even the land mass itself isn’t equally divided by the waters, since the foothills where the Veylsh temple is located at, is far from us. So I guess we’re fortunate that the temple for Lay’s pendant is not that far from wher-”

**_ROAR._ **

The sudden noise catches almost everyone off-guard and has them flinching a little, all except for Jonghyun who lets out a soft gasp, looking ecstatic like a kid who just heard an ice cream truck.

“I think that’s Roo!”

Followed by a roar, there is a series of crashing noises and overlapping roars in the distance.

“I don’t think that’s just one dinosaur, Jonghyun…” Key murmurs. “We better get away, and maybe split up.”

“Key’s right, there’s like fou- _ five _ creatures coming this way!!” Chen voices out in alarm as he monitors his holographic map. “And I can’t tell what they are until we see them! But I’m not sticking around to find out!”

Nodding, the seventeen men look about and scatter in groups of threes or twos.

\- -

Kai, Taemin, D.O and Minho are huddled under a gigantic tree, whose trunk is at least 20 feet diameter and with thick branches. Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Sehun and Zitao are hiding among some vines and shrubbery for camouflage. Key is with Luhan, and Xiumin, concealing themselves behind individual trees. Suho, Kris, Onew, and Jonghyun are unknowingly heading in the same direction to where the creatures are; and only Chen is equipped with a readily available visual map, so he and Lay are now running in a direction towards the temple.

_ Can everyone hear me? _

Across the land mass, there is a collective simultaneous sound of surprise among the Angel crew as Luhan’s voice echoes in each and every one’s mind.

The telepath picks up and counts the number of “yes”es, save for Xiumin who is next to him. “Okay, I counted nine. Chen isn’t an-”

_ Give us a warning next time you do something like this!  _ Chen’s voice screams in Luhan’s head.  _ You made me lose my footing on a narrow ledge! _

“...Chen’s alive.”

_ Okay, everyone, please keep your mental link open with me, because that way, I’ll know where I can find you guys. A little fair warning, I may be peering inside your minds to get a glimpse of your locations through your eyes, so please, for my sake, make sure there is nothing mentally scarring for me to see.  _ Luhan chuckles when a choir of “what the hell?!” and “Come the fuck on, Luhan; do we even have consent in this?!”  _ Okay, how about this? I’ll call out your name individually and you let me in for a moment, three seconds top. _

_ I feel violated already; Luhan, you’re definitely a creeper.  _ Chen’s voice says.  _ Wait, did you guys hear me? _

_ No one else but me will be able to hear you, Chen.  _ Luhan plays his teasing voice directly to Chen, before he opens his channel to everyone else.  _ Here’s the thing, I can only have multiple one-way links with each and every one of you; so that means you all can hear me, but you cannot hear one another. I don’t have the capability yet to connect all of our minds together. _

_ Well, I think some of us may already have our shipmates with us.  _ D.O’s voice replies back.  _ I have Kai, Taemin, and Minho with me. _

_ Ooh, good idea. Everyone tell m… D.O just told me that he has Kai, Taemin, and Minho with him. Someone else tell me who else is with you. I have Xiumin and Key with me. Um...Captain? _

_ Kris, Jonghyun, and Jinki are with me. _

_ The captain has Kris with him. Baekhyun? _

_ I’m with Chanyeol, Sehun, and Zitao,  _ Baekhyun’s voice answers.

_ Okay, BaekYeol and TaoHun.  _ \- A clamor of “wait what?” from Chen, Chanyeol, Sehun, and Baekhyun fills Luhan’s mind -  _ Chen? _

_...Just me. _

_ Okay…  _ Luhan frowns, a little nagging feeling at his side.  _ And...Lay? _

_ I’m here. _

_ Alright, Lay and Chen, you two better pair u- _

_ Found Lay, _ Chen’s voice chirps. 

A wave of relief washes over Luhan.  _ Alright, now we all have our mates, we should find our way back together as a group. I’m gonna project what I see to you guys, so you can have a general idea of where Xiumin, Key, and I are. Stay where you are and don’t move. Just remember, it’s an illusion. _

_ Can’t stop right now, Luhan. We got a situation, check with the others first before coming back to me.  _ Suho’s voice.

_ Oh, okay, understood. Come back in five minutes or earlier if you can. _

**_ROAR. SCREECH._ **

“Is it just me, or is that noise louder than before?” Captain Onew ponders in the middle of running.

“I’ll go check ahead of us.” WIthout warning, although Kris has actually voiced his summon in his mind, he takes off and is zigzagging through the branches and vines to peek above the jungle. The other three have stopped and hid together among the trees to wait for the boatswain’s signal or reply.

“Oh stars, they’re heading our way.” Kris turns around to look what is behind him, and he swears. “I can see our ships. No wonder the creatures are like this.” With that, he flies down and lands gently, though he has no idea where the others are.

“...Joonmyeon? Jin-?”

Whether by luck or not, Kris is actually close to the men’s hiding spot, as he spots Joonmyeon coming out of his refuge. He meets up with them and explains what he saw. “There are four bipedal dinosaurs and one humongous bird dinosaur heading this way so we better get back to our ships if we can. Bring those ships to a more camouflaged area.”

There is a sound of a stampede drawing near, and the four men pale at the sound. “We don’t have the time; we better hide for now,” Onew warns.

As they retreat to their collective hiding spot, they catch sight of the four creatures through openings of big leafy fans.  _ The bird dinosaur is no longer with them _ , Kris notes.  _ Has it found the others? _

Just then, Kris almost startles himself at the sound of Luhan’s voice in his head.  _ What are you ta- _

**_WHINE. ROAR._ **

Jonghyun, Onew, Suho, and Kris widen their eyes at a new source that is not in front of them, but  _ behind  _ them not too far away.

_ What was that I just heard? _

_ Shut up, Luhan. Let me focus. _

“...Roo?” Jonghyun says in a hushed whisper. “It’s gotta be Roo.”

Suho and Kris, along with the rest of the Angel crew, had learned from Taemin that dinosaurs like Roo on this island have a lengthy lifespan, keen senses, and have sharp memory skills. Ever since the crew landed foot on the floating island, they have been a little skeptical with Jonghyun’s connection with Roo, and even now, the captain and the boatswain are even more unsure about the possibility of running into a dinosaur pet named Roo. They share a look before watching Jonghyun in miffed horror, as he make his way towards the second source. Jinki does nothing to stop him, watching him with a fierce gaze as well as making note of their surroundings.

The captain of the Lucifer trusts Jonghyun to be sensible in this situation, seeing how the younger male stealthily walks around vines and trees, to hide and peek around.

Until he overlooks a small ledge and slips, letting out a sudden yelp. The other three men gasp and Onew dashes towards his shipmate.

**_ROAR._ **

The captain freezes in his tracks and he looks around, cursing under his breath. In one particular area, he can clearly see a movement in the trees.

“Jonghyun?” he utters out softly.

Not far from where he is standing, a gentle hand wave is all Onew needed to see from his lover that he is alright.

“Jonghyun, can you…?”

**_GROWL._ **

There is a thudding noise drawing close and the captain makes no hesitation to get close to Jonghyun, while Suho and Kris will their every fiber of their beings to stay still and not get caught in harm’s way.

Suddenly, without a warning, a large and green dinosaur emerges in the men’s sights, and they are petrified as the dinosaur lets out a deafening roar, one of its eyes already on them.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Onew tugs on Jonghyun’s arm, leading him up the ledge.

The dinosaur makes no move to come closer, just standing and studying the figures in front of it. Jonghyun scrutinizes at the tall, giant dinosaur, anticipating its behavior.

“Wait! What if it’s Roo?”

Onew looks back at him wildly before turning his gaze to the dinosaur.

“It’s been so long since last we saw him, and maybe he just needs to see us first.” Jonghyun pleads. Onew does not realize he’s holding his breath until he lets it out and studies Jonghyun’s eyes. He breaks away to find his younger friends, who are still rooted in their spots. “You two alright there?”

Suho and Kris nod, their hands intertwined in reassurance.

Onew looks back at Jonghyun. “Okay, this is what we’ll do. I’ll tag along with you, and you go ahead and talk to the dinosaur, see if it’s Roo or not. But any sudden move from the dinosaur that shows hostility, any  _ noise _ , Jonghyun, we’re leaving. Bear in mind we still have four other dinosaurs somewhere around us.” Jonghyun gives a couple of slow nods, before he looks over to the dinosaur.

“Roo?” He utters softly.

The dinosaur blinks and tilts his head, shifting his gaze between his eyes.

“Roo,” Jonghyun speaks more confidently, “It’s me, Jonghyun. And here’s Jinki, remember? You bit me when we came here, and we took you in when you lost your mother. Me, Jinki, Kibum, Minho, and Taemin.”

Suho, and Kris are holding their breaths again, tortured with the silence from the dinosaur and its minute actions as it watches Jonghyun and Onew draw closer. In an instant, Kris spots a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye.

“What is it, Yifan?” The captain has felt a shift against his body, daring not to look away from the scene in front of him, as he is standing with his back to Kris’ chest.

“Joonmyeon, I think there’s something else in the jungle.” He tries to squint to look for anything that stands out, but he finds none. “...Maybe not.”

_ Captain, are you there? _

Suho almost jumps at the sudden intrusion of Luhan’s voice. _ Stars alight, you scared me. _

“Hey, you okay?” Kris, having felt the movement, has his voice layered with concern.

“I’m fine, it’s Luhan.” The taller male nods in understanding.

_ Sorry, I told you earlier I had to check on you within five minutes. It was already ten past, even though I’ve made contact with Kris a little. Are you alright? _

_ We’re…we’re in a bit of a situation, or more like Jonghyun and Jinki are, because there is one dinosaur that has us in its sights. _

_ May I see? _

Joonmyeon mentally steps aside to let Luhan peek through for a few seconds. Thankfully Kris is already holding him, otherwise the physical state of Joonmyeon would have crumbled to the floor due to either a loss of control or an awkward state of being for Luhan to control Joonmyeon’s body.

_ Holy shit, that’s a  _ giant _ dinosaur. What the fuck is Jonghyun doing?? _

_ It seems that he’s trying to help the dinosaur remember who they are... _

“Maybe this might help, Roo,” Jonghyun starts to take off his jacket that covers his black wings, and spreads them slowly.

The dinosaur recoils a little from the sight, and tilts its head once more. There is a questioning growl heard from it.

**_ROAR._ **

_ Okay, I’m out.  _ There is a moment when Joonmyeon finally regains control of his body, and yet he still hears Luhan going on again.  _ Taemin, Minho, D.O, and Jongin are with me, Xiumin, and Key. Taemin just told me that he can see Jonghyun’s and Jinki’s names in the map on his book, so we can safely assume you two are safe in their hands. Hurry back when you can!  _

The four men and the dinosaur turn their heads to a new direction of where the ear-splitting roar is heard.

“That’s where I had thought I saw something move,” Kris murmurs to his captain.

“Jonghyun…” Onew warns, his hand quickly but calmly reaching for Jonghyun’s arm and grabbing hold. The dinosaur looks back at Jonghyun with an intense gaze, and rears his head back. “Jonghyun, I got a bad feeling…”

“Just wait, I think it’s Roo; it looks like he’s trying to remember.” 

**_ROAR!_ **

The scene goes by so quickly within the next few seconds when it started with the dinosaur lunging towards Jonghyun, but there is a flash of another large and green dinosaur before it collides with the dinosaur. Guttural and physical noises are heard from the dinosaurs, and neither the Captain nor his fallen angel are stopping to watch.

“Shit, NOT ROO.  _ NOT ROO _ !” The two Lucifer crew members scramble to get back up the ledge and with the help of Suho and Kris, they make it over and run for their lives.

Only to find that they’re trapped with the other four dinosaurs from before.

“Oh hell-fuck-me-over, this cannot be happening,” Suho curses, which is a rare thing for him to say unless the situation is dire. Jonghyun and Kris share a look and nod, thinking of the same thing when they hug their captains and take off from the ground, leaving the quarrel behind.

\- -

Meanwhile, most of the crew members have ended up finding each other after hearing the noises and with the mental guidance of Luhan, save for Chen and Lay, who have some ways to go before they can reunite with the group.

On the outside, most of the Angel crew may be calm, but on the inside, they are freaking out and worrying about their captains and their two missing crew members. 

“Guys, remember, Chen has that map. And it has our life signatures on it. He knows where to find us.” Luhan says in reassurance.

As for the Lucifer crew, they are not too worried, but they do worry for their friends. Taemin’s book has only the Lucifer crew members’ names on it, so the three Lucifer crew members can only do nothing but hope for Onew and Jonghyun’s safe return as well as Suho’s and Kris’.

Their frets and worries last but a short time, when Taemin exclaims that Roo is indeed alive, but that Onew and Jonghyun are moving away from Roo, at a fast pace. “With no one to fly and keep watch above the jungle, we can only stand around and wait for the-”

**_BANG._ **

The Angel crew duck their heads in a sudden fright, but recover their senses when they spot Key with a flare gun in his hand. Huddling together, they keep a look around for any sign of movements beyond the trees. Taemin and Minho are unaffected, seeing logic in Key’s actions and in how Onew and Jonghyun are moving so fast.

**_BOOM._ **

“Hopefully they should be here soon the moment they see that cloud,” Taemin reassures the crew as shades of purple glitters in his eyes.

“Wouldn’t that also draw the other dinosaurs too?” The scholar has a glint in his eyes when he looks to Baekhyun.

“It would, but we won’t be here by the time they get here.”

“How do yo-”

“HEY!”

Heads look up to see four men coming down at a gentler pace, and bodies are moving to make a circular clearing in the middle, as Jonghyun and Kris lower Suho and Onew down in the clearing.

“Boy, are we glad to see you all together in one piece!” Jonghyun sighs in relief, as the group huddle closer once more.

“Well...not exactly…” D.O says weakly. “We’re missing Chen and Lay.”

Suho and Kris share a worried look, wondering if the two had encountered any dinosaurs. “Luhan, ha-” Suho turns to see Luhan with his eyes closed, in deep thought.

_ Chen, where are you and Lay? If you don’t answer in 30 seconds, I’m gonna enter your mind.  _ Luhan shifts his mental focus.  _ Lay, I told Chen this: I will enter your mind in 30 seconds if you do not reply. Where are you two? _

“I tried, but for some reason, I feel like I’ve been bounced off or somehow I can’t get through to them. It’s just dead silence. I’ve warned both of them that I will enter their minds if they don’t reply in 30 seconds.”

_ Sorry! We were knocked out cold for a little while. Chen’s just waking up. You’re welcome to look into my mind to see where we are. _

“Wait,  _ what? _ ”  _ What?  _ Luhan voices out loud and in his head.

“What?” Almost all of the men said in unison at Luhan’s tone.

_ Yeah, uh...one dinosaur almost knocked us out with its tail, it wasn’t aiming for us ironically. It was speeding past us, ignoring us as if we were gnats. But its tail was swinging around wildly. If you asked me, I thought the dinosaur looked a little more excited than menacing. _

_ Okay, wait, hold on. Let me see where you are. _

After getting Lay’s permission, Luhan peeks into Lay’s mind and he can see a lightly bruised Chen sitting up, trying to get his bearings. Up ahead, he can see the path made by the dinosaur, broken trees and trampled greeneries. Luhan turns Lay’s head to look around, and to his left, he spots a wide opening among the trees where he can see in the distance, a river with a temple. To the right, he can see a narrow opening but he notices that he is on high ground, and he can see the ships docked. Luhan relays the information, and Taemin lets out a gasp before he looked at the pages. “It was Roo! He was coming from that direction when I saw his name pop up.”

“Wait! Where was Roo?! I knew it! That was Roo!” Jonghyun reprimands his captain. “ROO!” The Angel crew is startled at the sudden shout and begin to fear for their lives, glancing around for any sudden movements in the jungle..

“Jonghyun,  _ shh! _ ” Key shushes his crew mate.

“Roo was the one that arrived just before you left him. Why you didn’t stay with him? Or at least ride with him?”

“Huh?” Both Jonghyun and Onew utter out in confusion.

“Yeah, Roo came out, charging against the other dinosaur that was with you guys the whole time.”

Jonghyun’s eyes go so wide that they look like they are bulging out. “You mean...I was talking to a wild dinosaur that was not Roo? And that Roo was the one who saved us?”

“...If that’s what happened to you, then yeah that was Roo who showed up at the last minute.”

There is a noise of a happy roar heard deep in the jungle, and a fast pace shaking the ground. Jonghyun smiles towards the sound, as the other Lucifer crew look a little hopeful and a little skeptical, though Taemin is studying his book and confirms that it is indeed Roo coming towards them.

“ROO, JONGHYUN’S HERE!”

Now a few minutes later does the green dinosaur emerge from the trees, now with a slower pace and a hint of a smile on his face as well as a glint in his eye. He roars happily and stays at a good distance from the crowd, his taloned feet digging shallowly in the ground.

Some of the Angel crew let out soft gasps while others take a few steps back. Only the captain and boatswain stand rooted to their spots, with Kris acting a little protective of Joonmyeon, holding the latter closer to him. The Lucifer crew stands in their spots, though Jonghyun takes a few steps forward, upon hearing confirmation from Taemin that it is Roo. He doesn’t need to know, because he  _ knows _ Roo.

“Hey boy, it’s been such a long time.” The fallen angel raises his hand to be able to touch Roo and to show trust.

Roo lowers his head and lets out a trilling noise, a purr. Jonghyun has walked the last few steps to make contact with his dinosaur, and Roo initiates the contact by nudging the outreached hand. Jonghyun laughs and hugs Roo’s muzzle. There is a contented low growl, as Roo closes his eyes and lets Jonghyun hug him a little while. After they break apart, he looks to the rest of the Lucifer crew, each of them grinning.

“Hey Roo, I see you’ve been well,” Onew says with a little wave.

“This is crazy, as in the good kind,” Baekhyun chooses this moment to speak up, which captures Roo’s attention.

A questioning growl and a few retreating steps is all Roo has to say for himself.

“Oh! These are our friends, we’re helping them on a treasure find,” Jonghyun explains in a tone that speaks of assurance and friendliness. “It’s their first time seeing you in person.”

Roo stays in his spot, watching the group with an air of wariness. Then he blinks, tilting his head, and utters a soft noise of confusion. His gaze falls upon Luhan, who is approaching him gently.

Jonghyun turns around to see Luhan moving towards Roo and almost frowns in befuddlement, before he realizes that Luhan is a telepath. “Yeah, that’s my friend Luhan, he can communicate with you in your mind.”

Roo fidgets a little, uncomfortable with the mind breach, but shows no hostility towards the figure. Rather, he shows curiosity to the human being. Never has a living being attempted to communicate this way with Roo, or with any primordial reptile.

_ Kris, can you approach Roo with your power? _

Standing next to Joonmyeon with his hand on the captain’s shoulder, Kris furrows his eyebrows at the question, and stares up at Roo, a little hesitant to use his power. While he can obtain the power of flight, there is another sub-power from the pendant. In another’s mind’s eye, he can appear to be of any winged animal, but most importantly, a dragon, while retaining his physical human figure. All he has to do is just picture it in his mind, and the illusion will take form.

_ I can try, but let me go in my human form first. I’ll use the other power as a last resort. _

_ Alright, go for it. _

Kris takes a deep breath and, with a gentle squeeze on Joonmyeon’s shoulder, he takes off vertically to meet with Roo’s eye level. The rest of the Angel crew do nothing to stop him or make any noise of protest, just watch the scene in hushed silence as Roo tracks the flying man with one eye.

The boatswain then starts to move forward slowly, proceeding with caution.

The next few seconds surprise everyone.

Roo whimpers a little and makes hesitant movements, almost as if he is becoming submissive. He refuses to meet with Kris’ gaze. The crew notice that Kris has not used his transfiguration power yet, because that is how it works with his power. He cannot create multiple illusions varying to each individual, only one single illusion for every living being to see.

Kris cocks his head at Roo’s actions, wondering if Roo has somehow sensed his dragon pendant and his soul, which has taken form of a dragon the moment he accepted his pendant. Still approaching Roo slowly, he extends his hand and Roo looks at the hand, tilting his head in bewilderment. The dinosaur does not make any move to harm Kris, but rather hesitantly moves his muzzle forward.

When Kris’ hand and Roo’s muzzle make contact, Roo immediately lets out a soft purr. That earns a collective raise of eyebrows among the group, including Jonghyun. Kris smiles and caresses the scaly texture, crooning with friendly praises. He then meets with Roo’s intense gaze, and a wave of pride rushes through his body.

“Is that Roo?”

Everyone turns to the source that is Chen’s voice, a little surprised at first but smiled once the group sees Chen and Lay making their way towards them.

A scatter of “yes”es rings out from the group, and the two males shake their head in amusement. “He was the one that knocked us out without intending to!” Chen chortles.

Kris then removes his hand from Roo’s muzzle, and the dinosaur seems to be more calm than before, despite the interruption. Roo continues to track Kris’ actions with his gaze as the latter lowers himself to the ground and walks over to the returning members. It is then that he finally spots the two men and studies them with an air of curiosity. Jonghyun himself walks up to Roo again and the dinosaur, picking up on his friend’s presence, lowers himself to let the angel climb up.

“Took you two long enough. Are you okay, Chen?” Kris studies the navigator’s appearance, taking in the faint gashes and dried blood smears on the younger man’s face. “You too, Lay? Luhan told me what happened.”

“We’re fine, we were only knocked out for a little while.” Lay replies back with a dimpled smile. “At least we got to see the temple.”

Right after Lay says the last word does everyone’s interest gets piqued. 

“So you’ve found it then?” Onew asks. Chen nods confidently.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Baekhyun voices out his excitement.

A noise of a soft growl returns everyone’s attention to the owner. 

“Roo, I don’t think you can come with us into the temple, but you can wait for us outside the temple once we get there,” Jonghyun murmurs with a sympathizing tone. “I can only assume the protection around the temple is similar to the other one that we went to.”

Roo lets out a soft whine, but does not hesitate to move, signaling everyone to start moving in the direction of the Temple of Te’zeen, where deep in the water and ground, Lay’s pendant awaits.

Just then, a collective noise of roars is heard in the distance, causing everyone to quicken their pace towards the river temple.


End file.
